Ernest Clayton “Clay” Walker, Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single “What’s It to You“, which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart, as did its follow-up, 1994’s “Live Until I Die“. Both singles were included on his self-titled debut album, released in 1993 via Giant Records. He stayed with the label until its 2001 closure, later recording for Warner Bros. Records and RCA Records before joining his current label, Asylum-Curb Records, in 2007.
Clay Walker has released a total of 11 albums, including a greatest hits package and an album of Christmas music. His first four studio albums all achieved platinum certification in the United States and his greatest hits collection and fifth studio album were each certified gold. He has charted 30 country singles, including six Number Ones: “What’s It to You”, “Live Until I Die”, Dreaming with My Eyes Open“, “If I Could Make a Living“, “This Woman and This Man“, and “Rumor Has It“. His most recent album, She Won’t Be Lonely Long, was released in mid-2010.
https://twitter.com/melaninmatters/status/586553720172752896
Absolutely fantastic!
Rauner’s $100 million in corporate tax breaks drawing fire
Posted: 04/09/2015, 04:52pm | Natasha Korecki
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s decision to approve $100 million in corporate tax breaks is drawing fire from critics after the Republican six days ago yanked funding for a series of social programs, including funerals for the indigent, immigration, autism and HIV services.
His administration says the business incentives — for companies such as eBay, CapitalOne, CDW and SAC Wireless — were promised under Gov. Pat Quinn and will not affect this year’s budget.
“These commitments were made by the Quinn administration and were allowed to continue because they have no impact on the current Fiscal Year,” spokeswoman Lyndsey Walters said in an emailed statement.
Quinn’s administration had already committed to giving out those tax incentives, but paperwork was still being processed, Rauner’s office said. The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity reviewed the incentives and signed off on releasing the money.
News of the corporate tax breaks spurred a petition on Move.org.
“Giving tax breaks to big corporations while slashing millions from the services our most vulnerable citizens rely upon is beyond the pale,” said Aviva Bowen, spokeswoman for Illinois Federation of Teachers. “Cutting funding for autism, homelessness, parks, and after-school programs before asking the most wealthy to chip in a dime is completely out of touch with what Illinois wants or deserves.”
On Friday, Rauner announced $26 million in immediate cuts to social services, including $7 million for funerals and burials for public aid recipients, funds for immigrant services, autism services and other programs.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/7/71/513207/rauners-100-million-corporate-tax-breaks-drawing-fire
https://twitter.com/tchopstl/status/586644260595851264/photo/1
https://twitter.com/GRYKING/status/586688266151325698/photo/1
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
So before a single primary debate, caucus or primary vote I need to shut up and fall in line or else I’m just helping a Republican win? OK..
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
Oh NOW some of y’all are concerned about the Supreme Court. Thanks for finally waking up to what some of us were saying in 2000 & 2004…
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
Okay…let me go ahead and lay this out….
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
When I look at HRC I see a candidate/campaign that at least early on has seemed to have learned nothing from her loss in 2008.
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
I’m not going overlook that she’s to the right of the President on foreign policy. Can’t do it.
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
Also can’t overlook the jackass surrogates she surrounds herself with like Lanny Davis, James Carville and racist ass Lynn Forrester…
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
If a return to Democratic Leadership Council style politics and pollicies is the best we can do *shrug* so be it.
Mr. NFTG @Kennymack1971
But when the Sister Souljah moment comes (and it will with this crew) I don’t want to hear a damn thing.
Ooh boy!! Truth! I can’t fathom why this is being presented as the only option. This is BS.
This is so, so bad. I honestly don’t think there is any hope that the Democratic leadership will wise up. They would rather lose this election and give Hillary her chance than do what is best for this country. But I firmly believe that we the people lose either way, President Hillary or not. We’re supposed to think that any Democrat is better than a Republican and just vote for the Democrat.
And this is why cameras will never be the answer. They still have the ability to manipulate and cover up any situation they deem necessary. All this body cam nonsense is a way to shut everyone up so they can say, see, we did something now let us get back to our business as usual.
Dangit! I was replying to the post about the man beat and no functioning camera. I think u get it though.
Exactly. There has to be sweeping reform.
I could never support or vote for Hillary Clinton. Never. If she gets the nomination, I’ll do a write-in. I cannot in good conscience vote for her. I just can’t. I know too much.
And I’m not going to let her and her people block every potential Democratic competition, and then turn around and try to strong-arm us with the she’s better than any Republican and there’s too much on the line rubbish argument. I’m tired of the games. I’m tired of the b.s. I’m done being manipulated.
And if we’ve learnt anything from these past 8 years, it’s that some Democrats are as much our enemies as the bloody Republicans.
And anyone who relies heavily on Lynn Forester de Rothschild, calls her friend and keeps her close, is no friend of mine. Nor can I in good faith vote for anyone enthusiastically endorsed and supported by Henry Kissinger, Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu etc. I can’t do it…
https://twitter.com/keegannyc/status/586579713289822209
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/586529603193307136
Rand Paul’s incoherence is his best asset
by Marc Ambinder April 8, 2015
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who Tuesday made formal his always-but-not-officially-certain campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, is a hard politician to pigeonhole. More a meerkat than a chameleon, he pops up in odd places on the binary left-to-right political spectrum that still organizes how the media covers campaigns. And so, as his own campaign team acknowledged with a tongue-in-cheek video, he is just, really, well, “interesting.”
Is he a “fiery, uncompromising” libertarian? A libertarian who got mugged by the reality of governing? A conservative opportunist who seeks out unclaimed territory by play-acting a maverick? As the press struggles to label him, Paul’s plunge into the primaries has the potential to upconvert his opponents. His value to Republicans is that his final position on a number of issues cannot be predicted from his past statements. This is valuable, and not a knock against him, because his unpredictability will force the rest of the field to respond in real time to a politician who seems willing to change his mind.
http://theweek.com/articles/548458/rand-pauls-incoherence-best-asset
https://twitter.com/thinkprogress/status/586555409785344000
Missing police cameras when deputy throws man on road
Authorities originally told WUSA9 only one device recorded images at the scene where a deputy threw a man onto the road, but our investigation has identified at least seven that should have been there.
8:13 p.m. EDT April 9, 2015
ORANGE COUNTY, Va. (WUSA9) – The Virginia sheriff’s department that charged Stuart Fitzgerald with assaulting an officer after their officer threw the man to the ground has acknowledged at least one additional camera exists, and wont’ comment on others.
For updates on this story follow Investigative Reporter Russ Ptacek on Twitter @russptacek or like Russ Ptacek on Facebook.
The agency originally told WUSA9, a dash cam that recorded low quality video with no audio was the only device that recorded images at the scene that night.
Fitzgerald was pulled over in the middle of the night for flashing his high beams. The deputy tackled him shortly after Fitzgerald refused to sign documents when he was cited for driving without a license.
“We are not aware of any other video besides what you currently have in your possession,” said Orange County Chief Deputy Mike LaCasse.
WUSA9’s investigation determined at least seven cameras from three different agencies should have been at the scene while Fitzgerald was in custody, including a handheld device a deputy is recorded using by the existing dash cam video.
“This evening, I discovered that one of my patrol sergeants had taken photos of the defendant’s face and of the hood of the car,” LaCasse said responding to our finding.
The agency won’t comment on cameras WUSA9 identified in use by the Town of Orange Police Department the night of the arrest.
Of the seven cameras that should have been there, the one camera known to be one did not record any audio.
According blame that on a malfunction, but the same camera begins recording continuous overmodulated audio 25 minutes after the confronation with Fitzgerald.
“Without audio, you can’t hear me screaming out, screaming for, asking, I’m screaming oh God please help me, please help me, you know,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s when I’m on the ground I’m screaming that, when I was on the car, when they had me on the hood of the car I was screaming God please help me God, that’s what I kept saying.”
The officer standing closest to the camera when Fitzgerald is thrown to the ground is from the Gordonsville Virginia Police department.
She’s required by policy to wear a body camera, but that agency says she wasn’t wearing one that night because her camera was malfunctioning.
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/investigations/russ-ptacek/2015/04/09/orange-fitzgerald-dash-cam/25545477/
Aretha to headline gospel concert at White HouseSusan Whitall, The Detroit News 11:40 a.m. EDT April 10, 2015
The next “In Performance at the White House,” the 14th since President Obama took office, takes place Tuesday and will focus on “The Gospel Tradition,” featuring Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin and a diverse lineup of talent.
Along with the Queen of Soul, Bishop Rance Allen, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Rodney Crowell, Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, Darlene Love, Lyle Lovett, Tamela Mann, the Morgan State University Choir and Michelle Williams will perform. T Bone Burnett will be executive music director, with Billy Maxwell serving as music director.
The event will stream live at 7 p.m. Tuesday via whitehouse.gov/live. It will air on broadcast TV later, at 9 p.m. June 26 on PBS, as well as TV One.
http://ux.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/people/2015/04/10/aretha-franklin-white-house/25574965/
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had yet another contentious interaction with the media on Friday when he reportedly walked out of an interview with The Guardian.
Staffers of The Guardian newspaper tweeted that Paul refused to answer a question from reporter Paul Lewis and abruptly ended the interview:
Katherine Krueger @kath_kruegerFollow
@RandPaul refuses to answer @PaulLewis’ question in the @GuardianUS periscope interview, abruptly walked off AS STAFFERS TURN OFF LIGHTS
12:21 PM – 10 Apr 2015
Spencer Ackerman ✔ @attackermanFollow
That was astonishing. I can’t think of a single unfair question @PaulLewis asked @RandPaul.
12:21 PM – 10 Apr 2015
Spencer Ackerman ✔ @attackermanFollow
@marincogan so @PaulLewis pressed @RandPaul on specific drug laws he’d repeal. Suddenly, interview over, lights off.
12:24 PM – 10 Apr 2015
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rand-paul-storms-off-guardian-interview
https://twitter.com/callmedollar/status/586626572582522881
Oh my God Rikyrah…
I haven’t needed a Friday like this in a long time.
Happy Friday, Everyone :)
Hey folks! Lets help brave #FeidinSantana for coming forward with the video of #WalterScott. If you can’t donate, pass this link along so others may donate. Thank you so much!
https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/support-feidin-santana
Will do SG. Thanks for doing this..
If it wasn’t for him the cop would have gotten away with it and the media would have helped him.
I Couldn’t agree more. And he did it at great risk to himself. They could have easily killed him too. They still can…and might…
I believe it too. May God put a hedge of protection around him to keep him safe.
She went there! Our FIrst Lady is a fearless truth-teller! She actually told them we broke native Americans, and we need to fix what we messed up. Here’s an excerpt of the speech she gave to the Aspen Institute – the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) event convening philanthropies, nonprofits, and thought leaders:
First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House Convening on Creating Opportunity for Native Youth
“…I want to start by thanking Walter Isaacson and Senator Dorgan for their outstanding leadership and for the terrific work that they’re doing at the Aspen Institute.
And as for T.C – there really are no words to express just how proud I am of this young man and how impressed I am by his courage, determination and maturity. Barack and I were blown away by T.C. and by the other young people we met when we visited T.C.’s tribe, the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, last June. And I want to start off today by telling you a little bit about that visit.
It began when we arrived in North Dakota, and as we left the airport where we’d landed, we looked around, and all we could see was flat, empty land. There were almost no signs of typical community life, no police stations, no community or business centers, no malls, no doctor’s offices, no churches, just flat, empty land.
Eventually, we pulled up to a little community with a cluster of houses, a few buildings, and a tiny school – and that was the town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, which is part of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. And at that school, a small group of young people gathered in a classroom, anxiously but quietly waiting to meet with the President and the First Lady.
These teens were the best and brightest – hand-selected for this meeting – and after we all introduced ourselves, they shared their stories.
One young woman was in foster care because of substance abuse in her household. She talked about how hard it was to be separated from her five siblings. One young man had spent his high school years homeless, crashing on the sofa of his friends, even for a period living in the local community center. Another young man had gotten himself into college, but when he got there, he had trouble choosing the right classes; he realized that he’d never been taught how to properly write an essay; and when family problems arose back home, he struggled to balance all the stress and eventually had to drop out.
And just about every kid in that room had lost at least one friend or family member to drug or alcohol-related problems, or to preventable illnesses like heart disease, or to suicide. In fact, two of the girls went back and forth for several minutes trying to remember how many students in their freshman class had committed suicide – the number was either four or five…this is out of a class of 70.
You see, we need to be very clear about where the challenges in this community first started.
Folks in Indian Country didn’t just wake up one day with addiction problems. Poverty and violence didn’t just randomly happen to this community. These issues are the result of a long history of systematic discrimination and abuse.
Let me offer just a few examples from our past, starting with how, back in 1830, we passed a law removing Native Americans from their homes and forcibly re-locating them to barren lands out west. The Trail of Tears was part of this process. Then we began separating children from their families and sending them to boarding schools designed to strip them of all traces of their culture, language and history. And then our government started issuing what were known as “Civilization Regulations” – regulations that outlawed Indian religions, ceremonies and practices – so we literally made their culture illegal.
And these are just a few examples. I could go on like this for hours.
So given this history, we shouldn’t be surprised at the challenges that kids in Indian Country are facing today. And we should never forget that we played a role in this. Make no mistake about it – we own this….”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/08/prepared-remarks-first-lady-michelle-obama-white-house-convening-creatin
Wow! Thank you for this, Ellihass!
Thanks SG. I just stumbled across this and was blown away as I read what she said. She called us out! She went there.. I’m searching for a video of the event now.
The White House has to do a much better job of sharing the important, powerfully impactful and far-reaching work our First Lady does. They can’t just promote her light-hearted moments and literally mute her more serious and important efforts. There are so many instances of this happening. So many important events and speeches of hers that are just practically shut out. Her YALI speech from last year that so many of those young African participants still say was their best and most inspiring moment of their Fellowship. I just happened to stumble across that too – after the fact.
Can you imagine that this Native American Youth event happened on Wednesday – two days ago? And even those of us who follow the White House closely had absolutely no clue there was such an event. And that the First Lady not only participated, but as usual, plainly, clearly and brilliantly articulated the case for young native Americans, the role we played in the struggles and problems they face today, and what we need to do to fix the serious problems we created.
Oh I love it so much. Thank you for sharing.
God bless First Lady Michelle Obama!!!
Flotus is fierce & went all the way there. She kept it real.
How ironic too that this new interview with the great Toni Morrison having a Holy Spirit moment about our brilliant First Lady was just released:
“…(When I asked Morrison if she and Lois were close, I got an eye roll that was so sharp it chopped down the question and me. “My sister?” she finally said. “I need her.”) She told me about the unexpected thrills that can occur only late in one’s life, like changes in power that you never expected: Pope Francis, for example, or Michelle Obama. “Michelle,” she said with a smile that extended to places more important than just her face, “is one of the biggest brains in this country.”
“You think?” I asked her, not doubting her assessment but merely wanting a bit more. “Oh, I know,” she smiled, refusing to reveal a thing…”
We know and understand exactly what you’re saying Ms. Morrison. Lol.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/magazine/the-radical-vision-of-toni-morrison.html?referrer=&_r=1
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/586569735308873728
Complete swagger!
Thanks for bringing the Country, SG2. I’m a farm girl, so I love the mix of music that you’re bringing to us this week.
YVW!
I love country music. Grew up listening to it. It’s in my blood.
Democracy Now
Headlines April 10, 2015
Clinton to Announce Presidential Candidacy; Report Questions Ties to Colombian Oil Firm
Hillary Clinton is reportedly poised to announce her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination this weekend. The move comes as a new investigation has revealed Clinton’s close ties to a Canadian oil company with a history of alleged violence in Colombia. The International Business Times reports while Clinton was secretary of state she backed a Colombian free trade pact she had previously opposed over concerns about labor rights, after the founder of oil giant Pacific Rubiales pledged millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. The founder, Frank Giustra, now serves on the Clinton Foundation’s board. Labor leaders say Clinton ignored accounts of attacks on union organizers in Colombia, instead backing the trade pact which benefited Giustra and other foreign investors.
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/10/headlines#41011
The hell of it is, the Democratic Party does not care what kind of dirt they dig up on the Clintons. If Hillary says she’s running, then she’s going to be the Democratic candidate, and any Democrat who gets in her way will just get smacked down. The Democrats think that an uncontested primary, or at least a primary with no serious competition, will keep her nice and clean for the general. Ha, they should know better by now.
Honestly, I can’t even try to guess if the old girl can win the general or not. But there is absolutely nothing about her politics that compels me to vote for her other than I won’t vote for a Republican.
The MAJORITY didn’t want her ass in 2008, what makes her think we’ve changed our position of this snake in the grass?
Same as before: ENTITLEMENT, that’s all this is about. “It’s my turn” and now that ya’ll have voted for that black guy twice, IT’S REALLY MY TURN!
check!
She bores me. The massive number of people required to fluff her up, talk her up, force-feed us her — they and she all bore me. I’m bored even before she’s officially declared again. I’m bored of her many reboots. I’m bored of her ever-changing self recreations and narratives.
I’m bored watching her dress rehearsals trying to figure out what mask would play most convincingly to the masses: entitled don’t you want to see a woman president in your lifetime and I’m she, foreign policy expert, most qualified candidate, grandma to Charlotte who now has a new-found appreciation for saving the world for future generations, and on and on and on.
Not only are we bored stiff, we are not buying any of it.
Stinky, smelly, rotten , Clintons. I wouldn’t NEVER vote for her. NEVER.
I’m so sick of the Clintons until I could throw up.
Ditto.
The woman will be 69 years old in 2016. The Clintons absolutely refuse to pass the torch, and the Democratic Party doesn’t have the courage to stand up to them. I suspect the GOP sees Hillary as an easy target.
The NYPD has had it their way for too damn long. Now let those politicians and bureaucrats try to convince us that these cops can be retrained, that they can learn not to do this. I guess we’re supposed to be impressed by their restraint because they didn’t kill this man.
https://twitter.com/thenation/status/586541337127870466
Right, and thus the photo of said brother being allowed to WALK out of the PD.
“Who Was the First African-American Woman Director? (The Answer Isn’t as Simple as You May Think)”
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/who-was-the-first-african-american-woman-director-the-answer-is-not-as-simple-as-you-may-think-20150409
Excerpt:
deray mckesson retweeted
Colin Daileda @ColinDaileda · 38m 38 minutes ago
N. Charleston protesters want a “citizen review board” to oversee the police.
http://mashable.com/2015/04/09/protesters-citizen-review-board/ …
deray mckesson retweeted
ThinkProgress @thinkprogress · 36m 36 minutes ago
“Worse than Ferguson: A week in St. Louis county’s most egregious night courts” http://thkpr.gs/3643582
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Happy Fry-day, Everyone!
Good morning Rikyrah and Ametia and Everyone :)
Hope you have a great day and weekend.