Tracy Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called “Live At Libby’s” where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music. Lawerence signed to Atlantic Records in 1991, Lawrence debuted that year with the album Sticks and Stones, which produced his first chart single and first Number One hit in its title track.[2] Five more studio albums, as well as a live album and a compilation album, followed throughout the 1990s and into 2000 on Atlantic before the label’s country division was closed in 2001. Afterward, he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, DreamWorks Records, Mercury Records Nashville and his own label, Rocky Comfort Records.
All you Cowgirls and Cowboys, 3Chics is going to showcase some country music this week, so put on your boots, hats, big belt buckles and get to steppin. Sing along and let the sound haaannnng out there! :)
Maya Angelou on a Forever stamp…yes!!
https://twitter.com/srjones66/status/585202479819841536
B.B. King rushed to Las Vegas hospital after falling ill
http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/bb-king-rushed-to-las-vegas-hospital-after-falling-ill/ar-AAavwnI?ocid=u146dhp
.B. King was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital over the weekend for a diabetes-related issue. The 89-year-old blues legend remains in the hospital, but is doing OK.
The medical emergency, first reported by TMZ, was a result of dehydration. King has suffered from Type II diabetes for more than 20 years. His camp has not issued a statement yet, but last October King was forced to cancel a number of concerts after falling ill. During a performance in St. Louis, fans began to leave early because of King’s reported erratic performance. At the time, a rep for King said that it was simply “a bad night for one of America’s living blues legends.”
Shortly thereafter, King announced that he was cancelling the remaining eight shows to focus on his health. “I’m back at home now listening to music, watching moves and enjoying some down time,” he wrote on his website last year. “I think I’m busier at home now than on the road talking to friends calling to check up on me. I do appreciate everyone’s calls and concerns. I want to tell you, I’m doing alright.”
King has not addressed his latest medical issue on his site. Gossip Cop will continue to have updates on King’s current condition.
Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll
Love. It. Lol!
Heads exploding. Brain bits strewn all over the place. Love. it.
bwa ha ha ha ha ha
Minneapolis Cop To Black Teen: ‘F**k With Me, I’ll Break Your Leg’ (VIDEO)
“Plain and simple, if you fuck with me, I’m going to break your leg before you get the chance to run,” officer Rod Webber can be heard saying in the video. “I’m being honest, I don’t screw around.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/cop-break-your-leg_n_7010540.html
Even the dogs are well disciplined.
BEST FIRST FAMILY
EVER!
https://youtu.be/BspVAG3Wzp4
What’s up, Chicas?!
Hey SG2. Been a busy busy day.
Taking it easy today. Had a terrific weekend at our spiritual conference. Lots of renewal
You miss me? I miss all of y’all.
*dancing*
…You wanna ride it….. my motorcycle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzvs5XNjQQo
;)
Far More Whites Believe It’s Okay for Cops to Hit People than Blacks and Latinos
Study: 70 percent of whites approve of cops striking suspects.
By Terrell Jermaine Starr / AlterNet Ap
At least 7 in 10 white people polled in the study believe there are situations
that call for a police officer using force against a male citizen. Only 42 percent of black people and 38 percent of Latinos feel the same.
Here are some more more highlights from the study, as detailed by the Associated Press:
Sixty-nine percent of white people and 50 percent of Hispanic people approve of officers hitting suspects trying escape custody, but only 42 percent of black people agree.
Sixty-six percent of white people are OK with the death penalty being used against convicted murderers; 44 percent of black people and 48 percent of Hispanic people agree.
Hispanic, white and black people seemed to approve of cops hitting suspects, if they are attacked with fists. Nine in 10 whites approve; 74 percent of Hispanic and white people approve.
Twenty-four percent of black people approve of hitting a murder suspect who is being questioned, while 18 percent of Hispanics and 12 percent of whites approve.
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/far-more-whites-believe-its-okay-cops-hit-people-blacks-and-latinos
Of course they approve of police hitting people, and the reason is because they know it most likely won’t happen to them!
LOL NO SHIT,SHERLOCK.
The GOP finds itself at odds with ‘job creators’
04/06/15 01:01 PM
By Steve Benen
As right-to-discriminate proposals take hold as a new phase of the culture war, the right predictably finds itself at odds with its traditional foes: liberals, the LGBT community, civil libertarians, civil-rights proponents, etc.
But as last week progressed, it became equally clear that conservatives have added a new member to their roster of antagonists: business leaders.
“There’s been more pressure this week to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran,” [likely Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee] told host Michael Smerconish. “The reason that those corporations put the pressure on Indiana and Arkansas was because the militant gay community put the pressure on them,” he said.
Huckabee reminded viewers that, while he loved Wal-Mart, the company demonstrated rank hypocrisy for doing business with countries such as Saudi Arabia or China, where executives would likely disagree with their partners’ human rights.
Of course, it wasn’t just Wal-Mart that weighed in on the debate, siding with the left in opposition to discrimination. The list of high-profile companies that intervened last week, all in support of civil rights and basic decency, isn’t short.
In Georgia, where a version of the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” died last week, Coca-Cola also entered the fray, urging Republican policymakers not to approve the bill. It led one GOP state senator to deliver remarks on the legislative floor, accusing corporate critics of hypocrisy and telling colleagues, “I don’t really think what they have to say matters a whole heck of a lot.”
At a certain level, this may seem obvious. Major corporations adopted a strong posture against discrimination, so Republican policymakers who support these measures pushed back. It’s how practically all debates take shape.
But let’s not miss the forest for the trees – since when do Republicans argue, in effect, “Let’s stop listening to private-sector business leaders”?
For generations, the GOP was seen as the party of big business, and it was a label the party earned. Big Business and Corporate America are supposed to be conservative – anti-regulation, anti-interference, pro-free market – and private-sector leaders are supposed to find natural allies among Republicans.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-gop-finds-itself-odds-job-creators
And, just why does a person need to carry a gun to an Easter vigil Mass?
The Associated Press @AP · 4h 4 hours ago
Man stands up after kneeling at Pennsylvania church, accidentally fires gun during Easter vigil Mass:
http://apne.ws/1GYthRR
I do not know. Makes no damn sense.
Fear, fear of everything. RW media, politicians, and pundits have done a thorough job of making some Americans fear everything under the sun. I looked at the pics and noticed how upset some of the females churchgoers were, some of the men, too, but I’d lay my last dollar on the line and lose it, if the pastor says one thing about not bringing a gun into the church. This is just how intimidated some pastors and others are by the pro-gun wackos.
Cruz abandons subtlety with theocentric pitch
04/06/15 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s hard to imagine there’s much of a public appetite for campaign commercials right now. We’re five months removed from the last Election Day, and we’re 19 months from the next one. For that matter, we’re eight months from the Iowa caucuses and five months from the first debate. It’s way too early for TV ads, right?
Apparently not. The fact that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ran campaign ads over the weekend is itself a noteworthy development for the cycle, given that these are the first spots of the year, but even more striking is who the Texas Republican is targeting and how. Here’s the script of Cruz’s new ad, named “Blessing.”
“Were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the household. God’s blessing has been on America, from the very beginning of this nation. Over and over again, when we faced impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. This is our fight, and that is why I’m running for president of the United States.”
Three seconds into the spot, viewers see the Cruz family praying. Twelve seconds into the ad, viewers see some other children praying. Twenty seconds in, viewers see yet another person praying.
It’s not just the content, either. The Washington Post’s report added, Cruz “has reserved time during ‘Killing Jesus,’ a documentary-style adaptation of Bill O’Reilly’s book that will run four times this weekend on Fox News…. The campaign has also purchased ads statewide in the early-voting states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina during NBC’s ‘A.D.: The Bible Continues’ on Easter Sunday.”
In late 2007, just a week before Christmas, Mike Huckabee launched a television ad in Iowa that appeared to have a well lit cross behind the former governor. It seemed like a subtle effort to combine political and religious messages,
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cruz-abandons-subtlety-theocentric-pitch
The real-world effects of Brownback’s Kansas ‘experiment’
04/06/15 11:21 AM
By Steve Benen
When Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) launched his radical economic plan, which cut taxes far beyond what his state could afford, he called it “a real-live experiment.” The governor said at the time, “We’ll see how it works.”
More than four years later, we have, indeed. Brownback’s plan has resulted in debt downgrades, weak growth, and state finances in shambles. The latest data adds insult to injury: “State figures released Tuesday showed that tax revenue came in $11.2 million below expectations in March, the latest in a string of lower-than-expected tax receipts.” The report came two weeks after the governor said his plan is “working.”
As msnbc’s Trymaine Lee reported over the weekend, it’s reached the point at which some Kansas public school districts are wrapping up the school year early because they don’t have the money needed to keep the doors open.
As a result of [Brownback’s] cuts, the two Kansas school districts have announced that they’ll be cutting their school years short because of an expected budgetary shortfall, including a reduction of state aid and increasing financial pressure. The Twin Valley School District will end its year on May 8 instead of May 20, while the Concordia school district will end its school year about a week short, on May 15 rather than May 21. Concordia schools also will be closed on April 16 and May 1, to spread out the days certain staff won’t be paid.
“The board’s made a difficult decision,” Twin Valley Superintendent Jan Neufeld told The Wichita Eagle. “We have just a few fiscal reserves.”
Nothing says “21st-century super power” like American schools closing early because a state can’t afford to keep the lights on.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-real-world-effects-brownbacks-kansas-experiment
https://twitter.com/CAPAction/status/585065285897494528
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/584866008361406465
how about commenting on GROWN ASS BLEACHED BLONDE WOMEN ON FOX & NBC CHANNEL that I saw on NBC this morning, sitting on a couch between a male newscaster, showing their crotches.
Now that is DISGUSTIING!
The obsession these old perv rightwingers have with these two beautiful young girls, is creepy and frightening.
You wonder what on earth he was looking for when he spied the kids tastefully presented age appropriate dresses displaying their legs in bloody cute age appropriate maryjanes…
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/585106209285476352
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/585095237745381377
that bunny gives me the freaking CREEPS! LOL
https://twitter.com/anthonyanderson/status/585076881025851392
Mindy Kaling’s Brother Donned Blackface for 2 years in Twisted, Racist “Experiment”
Did y’all know Mindy Kaling had a brother?
Yeah, neither did I. Turns out that the star of the hit comedy The Mindy Project has an older brother named Vijay. A quick Google search of his name reveals little: on the internet, he exists entirely in the form of short quotes (one to Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, the other to Parade, another to the New York Times) about how awesome his sister is. He is also listed as a surviving child in his mother’s obituary. On a fansite for The Office, Vijay trawled for threads about his sister and shamelessly name-dropped that he was related to her. On Twitter, he has a scant 230 followers (at the time of this publication) despite having been on the microblogging site for four years as a self-described “anti-affirmative action hacktivist” (#tcot?). In his Twitter bio, he tells us that the most pertinent detail about his life is that he’s related to Mindy Kaling.
Yet, Chokalingam is making news today in super-Rightwing news media outlets: in early March, Chokalingam released details of a book pitch documenting his efforts to gain admission into medical school by donning Blackface fifteen years ago.
Yes, you read that right: Mindy Kaling’s brother says he wore Blackface for more than two years while applying to and attending medical school.
What. The. Fuck.
http://reappropriate.co/?p=8281
they are not on my mantle, but they are on the fridge, with the rest of the family pictures
https://twitter.com/jaredmichaelowe/status/584840662945792000/photo/1
bwa ha ha ha ha
Got’em on my FRIG too, Rik. LOL
Yes, the fridge.
Lol…I know more than a few people who have the Obamas on their mantles, and some aren’t even black. There’s this old Filipino woman I know, and she’s got that same picture up in her living room with the rest of her family pictures.
My mum of course who’s crazy about the Obamas, has their family picture on display too – and treasures all her White House Christmas cards from the Obamas – she’s received one every year since the Obamas moved into the White House.
of course they don’t. their azzes should be in jail for what they did. except, oh yeah, Bill Clinton helped repeal the law that would have put them there
………………..
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Sunday Long Read: Bastards Of The Universe
Posted byZandar
Vanity Fair’s Bill Cohan catches us up on the architects of the financial collapse of 2008. Turns out the people in the banking industry that wrecked our economy to the tune of trillions ended up A-OK. 81-year-old Jimmy Cayne, former Bear Stearns CEO, doesn’t want to talk about it much. Neither do his friends.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2015/04/sunday-long-read-bastards-of-universe.html
THIS kind of $$$$$$ means that there will be a Furious 8
…………………………
Furious 7’ Speeds to a Record April Debut of $143.6 Million
“Furious 7” raced off the line in its box-office debut, setting a record for a movie opening in April.
The seventh film in the franchise from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures collected $143.6 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak Corp. It’s the ninth-biggest weekend debut in box office history, according to preliminary figures provided by Rentrak. It was the only new wide release of the weekend.
Led by Vin Diesel and featuring the late Paul Walker, “Furious 7” is the rare tentpole in Hollywood that doesn’t rely on a superhero to carry the film. Despite a larger budget than the previous six in the car-chase action series, the latest installment is forecast to be the most profitable. It registered the biggest opening of the franchise, the biggest of any film in 2015, and beat the April record set last year by Walt Disney Co.’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-05/-furious-7-speeds-to-a-record-april-debut-of-143-6-million
In Report on Rolling Stone, a Case Study in Failed Journalism
By JONATHAN MAHLER
APRIL 5, 2015
When Rolling Stone took the unusual step of bringing in Steve Coll, the Pulitzer Prize-winning dean of America’s most prestigious journalism school, to dissect its widely discredited article on campus rape, the magazine was clearly making a statement. It was going to get to the bottom of this mess.
Rolling Stone now has what it asked for: a thorough indictment of its behavior.
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism report issued on Sunday makes plain in forensic detail what went wrong, how traditional safeguards broke down at pretty much every level of the editorial process. The tone is more constructive than chiding; it is a case study in the failure to follow best journalistic practices.
Now that the facts have been laid bare, “A Rape on Campus,” published in November, joins America’s rogues’ gallery of journalism scandals. For ease of reference, the scandals can be divided into three general categories (excluding the recent phenomenon of television figures telling tall-tale war stories).
The first two are straightforward. There is pure fabrication, for which high-profile culprits include Jayson Blair (The New York Times), Stephen Glass (The New Republic) and, going back a little further, Janet Cooke (The Washington Post). And there is the act of plagiarism (culprits too numerous to list).
“A Rape on Campus” falls into a third category: lack of skepticism.
It is the most complicated of the three, and in many ways the most insidious. It is a crime no single journalist — reporter or editor — can be completely inoculated against committing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/business/in-report-on-rolling-stone-a-case-study-in-failed-journalism.html?smid=pl-share
Rolling Stones mag isn’t the only form of journalism that needs to be CALLED out for their insidious, and recent, BLATANT shady reporting on world affairs.
https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/585043259015106561
more bull shiggity
……………..
State Senate Leaders Says Additional $25 Million in Budget Will Aid Charter Schools
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
APRIL 3, 2015
No one has ever described New York State’s budget process as being overly straightforward. But a handful of passages in the annual budget passed in Albany this week are prime examples of how important spending decisions can get buried in generic language.
Inside the roughly $150 billion budget was a paragraph that allocated $25 million to the Senate to use “for additional grants in aid to certain school districts, public libraries, and not-for-profit institutions.”
But according to the office of Dean G. Skelos, the Long Island Republican who is the majority leader of the State Senate, that money will go toward one particular purpose: the funding of charter schools.
Charter schools are publicly financed but privately run, and there is a constant battle over how much taxpayer money they should receive. Opponents say that they pull cash away from traditional public schools, while charter school advocates complain that they receive less money than their public school counterparts while doing the same work.
Charter schools that get free public space, as many do, or that get help with rent receive roughly the same amount of money per student as regular public schools do. Charter schools without those forms of assistance get less.
The $25 million allocation for charter schools, which can be spent after a resolution is approved by the Senate, will amount to an increase of about $225 increase per charter pupil across the state, charter advocates say. (In New York City, charter schools receive $13,777 per student, according to the Education Department.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/nyregion/state-senate-leaders-says-additional-25-million-in-budget-will-aid-charter-schools.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
uh huh
uh huh
………………………….
A Charter School Rally Duels With Teachers’ Unions in Albany
By JESSE McKINLEY and ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
MARCH 4, 2015
ALBANY — With the political winds seemingly at its back, New York City’s charter school movement staged a splashy rally in Albany on Wednesday, with an enthusiastic mix of thousands of students, a raft of state leaders and a pinch-hitting pop star.
Organizers said the purpose of the event was to call attention to failing schools across the state. But implicitly they also came to offer themselves as an alternative to be developed, and to make their political muscle felt.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, has asked the Legislature for a range of educational reforms, including one that would allow for an additional 100 charter schools, and another that could open the door for charter organizations to take over regular public schools.
“We are here to send a message,” said Kathy Hochul, the lieutenant governor, speaking from the Capitol’s snowy steps with a backdrop of supporters. “A message that failure is not an option.”
At the same time, supporters of teachers’ unions, who had also traveled to Albany in an armada of buses, gathered at a convention center adjacent to the Capitol. While their numbers were smaller than those supporting charter schools, and their mood less festive, the unions were targeted in their approach. Representatives of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City union, met with lawmakers, including the heads of education committees from the Assembly and State Senate.
Teachers’ unions have fought the spread of charter schools, arguing that they take space and resources from regular public schools. Charter schools are privately run, publicly financed and usually not unionized. The unions are also contesting Mr. Cuomo’s proposal to tie teacher evaluations more closely to students’ standardized test scores, and have forcefully pushed back against him with billboards and television ads.
As the charter supporters’ rally brought out dance troupes and booming club music, Michael Mulgrew, the New York City union’s president, raised his voice to remind more than 1,000 parents and members in attendance at the convention center that it was their day to fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/nyregion/a-charter-school-rally-duels-with-teachers-unions-in-albany.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
At Success Academy Charter Schools, Polarizing Methods and Superior Results
By KATE TAYLOR
APRIL 6, 2015
At most schools, if a child is flailing academically, it is treated as a private matter.
But at Success Academy Harlem 4, one boy’s struggles were there for all to see: On two colored charts in the hallway, where the students’ performance on weekly spelling and math quizzes was tracked, his name was at the bottom, in a red zone denoting that he was below grade level.
The boy, a fourth grader, had been in the red zone for months. His teacher, Kristin Jones, 23, had held meetings with his mother, where the teacher spread out all the weekly class newsletters from the year, in which the charts were reproduced. If he studied, he could pass the spelling quizzes, Ms. Jones said — he just was not trying. But the boy got increasingly frustrated, and some weeks Ms. Jones had to stop herself from looking over his shoulder during the quizzes so she would not get upset by his continued mistakes.
Then, one Friday in December, she peeked at his paper, and a smile spread over her face. After he handed in his quiz, she announced to the class that he had gotten a 90. “I might start crying right now,” she said, only half-joking. “I’ve got to call your mom.”
In its devotion to accountability, Success Academy, New York City’s polarizing charter school network, may have no peer.
Though it serves primarily poor, mostly black and Hispanic students, Success is a testing dynamo, outscoring schools in many wealthy suburbs, let alone their urban counterparts. In New York City last year, 29 percent of public school students passed the state reading tests, and 35 percent passed the math tests. At Success schools, the corresponding percentages were 64 and 94 percent.
Those kinds of numbers have helped Success, led by Eva S. Moskowitz, expand to become the city’s largest charter network. By next year Ms. Moskowitz, known for her attention-grabbing rallies and skirmishes with the teachers’ union and Mayor Bill de Blasio, will have 43 schools; a proposal by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo could get her closer to her goal of 100. That would give Success more schools than Buffalo, the state’s second-largest district.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/nyregion/at-success-academy-charter-schools-polarizing-methods-and-superior-results.html?module=Notification&version=BreakingNews®ion=FixedTop&action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=32061185&pgtype=article
I LOVE Orphan Black.
I think she’s amazing.
……………………………
The Many Faces of Tatiana Maslany
In portraying a horde of clones on ‘Orphan Black,’ the actress has created TV’s strangest — and most sophisticated — meditation on femininity.
By LILI LOOFBOUROW
APRIL 2, 2015
The grand adventure of a set visit is entering a universe where everyone — absolutely everyone — is a pro at playing pretend. They’re admirably adult about it. They drink coffee and sit in chairs and operate machines, as if there weren’t lights so hot that they banish the winter outside, as if it’s perfectly normal for a sweltering interior to look like a dusty, sunbaked facade. Insides become outsides here, as gravel underfoot transforms a soundstage floor into a sandy desert
But the illusions are particularly vertiginous on the set of “Orphan Black,” the BBC America television show that has the same star many times over. “Orphan Black,” you see, is about a group of persecuted clones, and all of them are played by Tatiana Maslany, a 29-year-old actress who has ridden her multiple roles to cult stardom and critical acclaim. On a recent morning in Toronto, Maslany was wearing a frizzy blond wig and was made up as Helena, the dangerously mercurial Ukrainian clone. Her face was covered in blood and filth. She was not — as far as I could tell — thinking about the Screen Actors Guild Award nomination she received that morning, or (as I was) the circumstances that landed her in the peculiar fishbowl of fame. She was focused instead on butter.
The crew was getting ready to shoot the other half of a two-clone scene they had started the day before, when Maslany was playing Sarah Manning, a street-smart con woman and the protagonist of the show. Helena, by contrast, is a cult escapee with homicidal tendencies and a ravenous, animalistic relationship with food. The director of this episode, David Frazee, and Maslany were working through how Helena’s insatiable appetite would affect her behavior in this scene. There was butter present in the shot, but it was not there to be eaten. Would Helena be able to resist? Even a tiny taste?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/magazine/the-many-faces-of-tatiana-maslany.html?src=me&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most%20Emailed&pgtype=article
SG2,
I hope Haley gets to see Black Girls Rock!
It really was a terrific show this year.
OK. Remember when Haley got in trouble at school for saying ‘black girls rock’? She was in 1st grade, I think.
I remember, but Haley knew…
she’s wise like that.
Rik, that was way back when we were all on JJP.
That’s our Haley, a future leader! Her grasp of serious social issues is wonderful at her age. She’s very much aware of what’s going on in the world and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. Please, never let her lose this gift!
Thank you, Majiir
Haley got in trouble for saying black girls rock after the parent of a little white girl called the school. OMG! She called the school. Haley’s teacher, black, asked Haley not to say ‘black girls rock’ b/c it was hurting other students feelings.
I know you’re going to bring it for us this week, SG2!
I have my boots on and ready to dance.
UH HUH
UH HUH
………………………..
G.O.P.’s Israel Support Deepens as Political Contributions Shift
By ERIC LIPTON
APRIL 4, 2015
WASHINGTON — As the proposed agreement over Iran’s nuclear program is debated in coming weeks, President Obama will make his case to a Congress controlled by Republicans who are more fervently pro-Israel than ever, partly a result of ideology, but also a product of a surge in donations and campaign spending on their behalf by a small group of wealthy donors.
One of the surprisingly high-profile critics is Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who burst to prominence with a letter signed by 46 Republican colleagues to leaders of Iran warning against a deal. Mr. Cotton, echoing criticism by Israeli leaders, swiftly denounced the framework reached on Thursday as “a list of dangerous U.S. concessions that will put Iran on the path to nuclear weapons” — words, his colleagues say, that expressed his deep concern about Iran’s threat to Israel’s security.Continue reading the main story Related Coverage
But it is also true that Mr. Cotton and other Republicans benefited from millions in campaign spending in 2014 by several pro-Israel Republican billionaires and other influential American donors who helped them topple Democratic opponents.
Republicans currently in the Senate raised more money during the 2014 election cycle in direct, federally regulated campaign contributions from individuals and political action committees deemed pro-Israel than their Democratic counterparts, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics and analyzed for The New York Times by a second nonprofit, MapLight. The Republican advantage was the first in more than a decade.
The alliances in Congress that pro-Israel donors have built will certainly be tested as they lobby lawmakers to oppose the deal with Iran and perhaps even expand sanctions against the country, despite objections from the Obama administration.
Donors say the trend toward Republicans among wealthy, hawkish contributors is at least partly responsible for inspiring stronger support for Israel among party lawmakers who already had pro-Israel views.
“Absolutely, it is a factor,” said Marc Felgoise, who manages the Philadelphia Israel Network, a campaign fund-raising group, and whose own contributions have shifted to Republicans, though he still supports many Democrats. “They are trying to cater to people who are ultimately going to support them.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/us/politics/gops-israel-support-deepens-as-political-contributions-shift.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&utm_content=bufferde348&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer&_r=1
‘Mad Men’: Ranking every. single. Peggy Olson outfit
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/gallery/mad-men-ranking-every-single-peggy-olson-outfit/ss-AAapWdq
Ha ha. Without even looking, pretty much all of Peggy’s outfits are ugly even for the 50s and 60s. Joan’s weren’t much better. Betty Draper Francis has had the best clothes, IMO, except for the period when she was overweight.
Season premiere review: ‘Mad Men’ – ‘Severance’: Is that all there is?
Alan Sepinwall 9 hrs ago
A review of the final “Mad Men” season premiere coming up just as soon as I try your veal…
“That’s not a coincidence! It’s a sign!” -Ken
“Of what?” -Don
“The life not lived.” -Ken
A handsome man in a grey suit once asked, “But what is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness.” And at a moment in time when that man and many of the people he worked with seem to have acquired a boatload of professional happiness — or, at least, money — a ghost danced in front of him and sang about how the best things in life are free.
And as “Mad Men” returns from its last hiatus, having carried its characters out of the 1960s altogether, “Severance” is a reminder of how elusive happiness is for everyone, and how the life not lived seems at once far more appealing and impossible to actually explore.
The series’ final batch of episodes picks up in early 1970, almost in real time from when Bert Cooper died and McCann bought SC&P. And though the early ’70s were in many way an extension of the late ’60s (just as the beginning of “Mad Men” showed us how much of the decade’s start was indistinguishable from the end of the one before it), things are already different. Don doesn’t return sporting a perm or mustache (though Roger and Teddy more than take care of the latter trend), and is styled exactly like he was 10 years before, but the quality of the light and color in the opening scene is wildly different. The start of the series could have been a Douglas Sirk film in Technicolor; the casting session is washed-out and sinister in a way that looks like something that Alan J. Pakula or Sidney Lumet might have directed, rather than longtime “Mad Men” producer Scott Hornbacher.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/reviews/season-premiere-review-mad-men-severance-is-that-all-there-is/ar-AAatC0X
I jut started watching “Mad Men” Still on season one episodes.
I’ve already watched the new episode twice and it made slightly more sense the second time. Even so, this episode is actually reminding me of a David Lynch film. Some of the show was kind of surreal like that waitress that Don Draper keeps going back to see because he thinks he knows her and the death of Rachel, one of Don’s lovers from way back. And then other parts were really mundane, like Joan comforting herself with a shopping spree after enduring some brutal sexual harassment from the McCann guys. Most of the characters from last night appear to be on a downward trajectory. I keep thinking that the final episode from last year was named “Armageddon” and I think there is a reason for that.
I find Mad Men to be surreal period. I am thoroughly enjoying watching it so far.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Sister’s using rouge and clear complexion soap
Brother’s wearing beads and he smokes a lot of dope
Momma is depressed barly makes a sound daddy’s got a girlfriend in another town
Bob Dylan sings Like a Rolling Stone and time marches on time marches on…
Morning, Cowgirls & Cowboys! :-)
http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/c/cowboy/graphics-cowboy-845144.gif
Look atchoo. Love the boots.