India Arie (born India Arie Simpson; October 3, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer.[1] She has sold over 3.3 million records in the US and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.
Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado. Her musical skills were encouraged by both parents early in life. Her mother Joyce is a former singer (she was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green)[2] and is now her stylist. Her father is former NBA basketball player Ralph Simpson. She has an older brother named J’On.[3] According to a DNA analysis, she descends from the Mende people of Sierra Leone, the Kru people of Liberia and the Fula people of Guinea-Bissau.
The 70 Most Memorable Characters of ‘Mad Men,’ Ranked
Photo of Liz Shannon Miller
By Liz Shannon Miller | Indiewire
May 14, 2015 at 11:21AM
It could have been longer, but we grouped all the Bobby Drapers together.
http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-70-most-memorable-characters-of-mad-men-ranked-20150514
“A mom, a disabled son and a home that blazed amid Baltimore’s riots”
May 18, 2015, 8:36 PM
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-ae-quadriplegic-boy-baltimore-riots-20150507-story.html#page=1
Excerpt:
Hey, y’all,
Nine days without a computer is really interesting. I feel so uninformed, but I always watch “Democracy Now” on weekdays.
I was reading your comments about the Mad Men finale. I didn’t like it so much late last night but today I feel differently. The scene at the retreat was really quite brilliant when the middle aged man spoke about his dream of being in the refrigerator. Someone finally got through to Don in the metaphoric language that he understands. And, apparently, he is able to leverage his enlightenment into the Coke ad that kind of embraces the whole world. It was a soft landing for Don and I think he deserves it despite all the philandering and drinking and dishonesty in his past life.
Betty getting lung cancer is a tough break but I think that Matt Weiner probably felt someone had to get it because almost all of them smoked liked furnaces.
Other than that, they all got soft landings. I like that Roger claimed the son he had with Joan, but I was kind of hoping he would have a heart attack and die. But he’s kind of cute with Megan’s mother so I’ll let it go.
Hey Liza.
In all the years of Mad Men, the only thing that ever disappointed me was that Roger never became good enough for Joan. I was more than pleased that he claimed his son – it was the least he could do.
As for everyone else, I am sad that Joan wound up alone, but I think it’s a matter of timing. I think, if she and Richard meet, say 15 years from now, after she’s built her company and raised Kevin, she and a ‘Richard type’, could be very happy together.
It took me three seasons to like Peggy. But, I am glad for her ending.
I liked Pete from the very beginning, even though I know I shouldn’t have. But, unlike Don, Pete grew from his mistakes, and realized that the grass wasn’t greener, and that NYC isn’t the be-all, end all, and I think he and Trudy will be happy in Kansas, with their yearly trips back to NYC.
Betty dying was harsh, but she was finally a good mother to Sally. If Don or her husband had taken the boys, Sally would have defaulted into the mother role, thus stunting her living her life, and Betty didn’t want that for Sally. Sally will see that, when she’s 25 or so.
I think this last season has come closest to the quality of the first 3 years of Mad Men, which I think was superlative television. I loved the delusional world of Mad Men, because of the brutalness of the honesty of exclusion of everyone that wasn’t rich, White and male. It told the truth about that, and for me, that’s what made it excellent political commentary.
Hi Liza. Welcome back! We missed you.
I just finished watching all the 6 seasons of Mad Men prior to watching he AMC marathon season 7 and the finale.
Rikyrah would comment on it often, but until one actually sees the series, one can not grasp the the brilliant true-to-life, character-driven script.
I just knew they weren’t going to take Don Draper out with an accident or suicide.
the one thing he had going for him , even when it seems he was on a self-destructive course of drinking and whoring around.
His survival factor was his creativity. I think he was so brilliant, genius even at his ability to create. It’s a God-given ability we’re all born with, but some of us channel it differently.
Most successful artist tap into it and create the most extraordinary works. That kind of energy can come in so strongly, folks try to get a handle on it by drugging, drinking, and having promiscuous sex. History proves this fact….Hendrix, Joplin,
I loved Mad Men because it never tried to make any of the characters ALL GOOD or ALL BAD. And yes, Rikyrah, it most defintely was in-your-face white males begin all, end all..
Rik: Big fish in samll pond and every one else packed in can like sardines..
Hi Liza!
SG2 missed you.
Hi, SG2,
I missed you too. I have to go back and look at all those classic blues posts. And Zimmerman getting shot. Good Lord.
Zimmerman was shot at and the bullet MISSED him. Whoa!
Yeah, I should’ve said “shot at.” Well, no one is shocked, that’s for sure.
Mad Men is definitely going to be in my top five favorite TV shows of all time. I totally agree with you about how well they portrayed the white male dominated world of business and opportunity. And it was just the select few, the ones who made it to the upper echelons who got most of the rewards, but any white male would be better off and paid more than the most talented, intelligent women. Such were the times.
I also like the way that Matt Weiner kept the advertising business within it’s proper perspective. These folks were not curing cancer or feeding the poor, they were selling things to consumers to make money for themselves and their clients. They were not heroes, and they were even capable of gross unfairness and mistreatment of their own employees because the agency’s business came first, always. The lower echelons had to learn to live within those arbitrary rules to survive.
What I really like most about Mad Men is that they kept it real. Nothing that happened was too crazy or coincidental to be beyond the realm of possibility. Now, I can’t say that I ever knew these kinds of people, but somehow they were very credible. I just realized that the closest characters to my own experience would be Peggy’s Catholic family, and I didn’t like any of them. My favorite is Don, for sure, but I also liked Pete. I figure it’s only TV so it’s okay to like the anti-heroes and the villains.
I loved the ‘Hello Dawn, Hello Shirley’ scene. I could relate to the ‘invisibility’ I really don’t ahve a favorite character though.
I liked both of them, Dawn and Shirley. One of my favorite scenes is when Dawn takes over Joan’s position as office manager, puts down her box of stuff, and sits at her desk and smiles after a really hard day of being moved around.
Weiner has a way of doing that, almost giving these kinds of scenes as gifts to the viewers after a really stressful show. There was the one where Lane hung himself at the office and that magnificent scene at the end where Don lets Sally’s friend Glen drive his car because the kid said that was the one thing he wanted to do more than anything. Don played a major role in Lane’s suicide but then Weiner forces you to see his humanity, and won’t let you hate him. Mad Men is riddled with these kinds of scenes.
Glen & Sally tickled the hell out me. Loved their relationship. Yes, that scene with Don & Glen was a keeper. He had that ‘creepiness about him. Interesting he is actually Matthew W.’s son.
Not all good-not all bad. Yep that’s what endeared me to MM.
Lane was an odd character. He and Pete’s office brawl had me in stiches. He really did love being in NYC. Also too, Don was caught up in 2 suicides Adam and Lane’s. I knew they were’nt going to leet him go out like that.
That’s amazing, Ametia, you’re all caught up.
Yeah, I think that Matt Weiner loved his characters too much for anything horrible to happen to them. Betty is kind of a sacrificial lamb because she really did smoke ALL the time. In last night’s episode, she was sitting at the table smoking while Sally washed dishes. Nothing left to lose, I guess.
This was quite an achievement for Matt Weiner et al. I’ll miss MM, but I’m glad it’s over before they all end up with lung cancer.
Hair perfectly coiffed and lipstick perfect. No one held, stroked or toked a cigarette like Betty Draper.
Betty bequeathed me her FABULOUS wardrobe ! LOL I coveted her clothes every scene. Even the ‘fat. Betty scenes.
May 18, 2015 3:25 PM
No Cheap Compromise on Criminal Justice Reform
By Ed Kilgore
At TNR today, Stephen Lurie offers a wake-up call to progressives who are perhaps a mite too excited about the great conservative turnaround on criminal justice issues. Yes, it’s a great thing that an increasing number of Republican thinkers and pols are interested in sentencing reform and related issues. But progressives have conceded crucial ground by going along with the idea that it’s all about saving money.
The consensus may be bipartisan, but it’s not ideologically balanced. The language advocates use to describe the problems at hand and the nature of their proposed policy solutions demonstrate that this moment is far more concerned with mass than incarceration. Despite reports of meeting in the middle, we’re witnessing a liberal acquiescence: Nearly everything is phrased in conservative terms—cutting costs, saving funds, and minimizing the size of the system.
Consider the eerily compatible messaging of the leading conservative, liberal, and centrist advocacy groups. Right on Crime—the conservative organization credited with kick starting and leading the current reform movement and efforts in many states—centers their drive for reform in fiscal responsibility. The organization’s short statement of principles is replete with concern for “cost”, “taxpayers” and “spending” (but not “fairness,” “equality,” or “rights”).
Meanwhile, the ACLU’s new Campaign to End Mass Incarceration (Smart Justice, Fair Justice) starts by putting “needlessly throwing away too many lives” on par with “wasting trillions of taxpayer dollars.” The Campaign’s listed priorities all deal with the size of the justice system and cost cutting in some form. Even the call to “Invest in Better Systems” emphasizes that “services like drug treatment and affordable housing cost less and can have a better record of success” than the criminal justice system. Likewise, the Coalition for Public Safety, a new bipartisan umbrella campaign sponsored by the likes of Koch Industries and the MacArthur Foundation and led by groups from the Center for American Progress to Americans for Tax Reform, emphasizes their “comprehensive” approach but also tends to be minimalist in practice. Presenting the Coalition’s case on PBS recently, Mark Holden (senior vice president of Koch Industries) and Neera Tanden (president of the Center for American Progress) laid out the vision. “What we’re talking about are [sic] more non-violent offenders, first-time offenders, low-level offenders not getting really long sentences.” Tanden expressed concern with how the “criminal justice system is actually increasing poverty.” That poverty itself also contributes to a cycle of poverty, crime, and incarceration—or that only focusing on specific offenders will hardly address the size of the problem—remained unsaid.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_05/no_cheap_compromise_on_crimina055618.php
BILL O’Reilly accused of physically assaulting ex-wife in front of daughter
Source: Raw Story quoting additional source Gawker
A source said Maureen McPhilmy, who was recently awarded custody of the couple’s two children, testified during a New York family court hearing that O’Reilly attacked her at their Manhasset home, reported Gawker.
The source said a forensic examiner testified that O’Reilly’s 16-year-old daughter claimed she saw her father drag her mother down a staircase by the neck, unaware the girl was watching.
McPhilmy began dating a Nassau County police detective after the separation, and Gawker reported that O’Reilly called in a favor after raising money for the department and got an internal affairs investigation launched against the new boyfriend.
O’Reilly tried to have his former wife excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in 2013, according to another Gawker report.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/bill-oreilly-accused-of-physically-assaulting-his-ex-wife-in-front-of-their-daughter/
I am ready for love
Why are you hiding from me
I’d quickly give my freedom
To be held in your captivity
My favorite verse right HERE:
If you give me half a chance
I’ll prove this to you
I will be patient, kind, faithful and true
To a man who loves music
A man who loves art
Respect’s the spirit world
And thinks with his heart
So beautiful.
https://twitter.com/ABC7Chicago/status/599023037644558336/photo/1
Great job!
CONGRATS!
How is this replicated in other cities? This is amazing and so awesome!!
I can’t wait to see this!!
Watch ‘black-ish’ Season Finale Sneak Peek – Will Be Set During the Harlem Renaissance
By Tambay A. Obenson |Shadow and Act
May 18, 2015 at 12:21PM
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/watch-black-ish-season-finale-sneak-peek-will-be-set-during-the-harlem-renaissance-20150518
Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mary J. Blige will reunite, this time on the small screen, as guest stars on the season finale of ABC’s hit comedy “black-ish,” in an episode set in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, which airs this Wednesday, May 20, at 9:30pm.
The episode, titled “Pops’ Pops’ Pops,” finds Jack and Diane (Miles Brown, Marsai Martin) looking for clues about their roots for their class assignment, a history of the Johnson family. But they can’t find anything out about the family’s past. Pops (Laurence Fishburne) comes to the rescue with a colorful story of how “Pops’ Pops’ Pops,” great-great grandfather, Drexler Johnson, bet the future of the Johnson family against a ruthless gangster, Elroy Savoy.
absolutely LOVE ‘Black-ish’
Now how do you suppose that WACO shootout/MURDER would have gone down, had the bikers been BLACK?
You know those laws: conceal & carry, open & carry & second amendment rights for black bikers.
Take you time with the reply.
Reminds you that Reagan as governor of California repealed open carry gun laws just to spite Black Panthers literally…
NOBODY has answered the question of whether the shooters had open carry permits
I’m just sayin’.
Nobody cares to..
The benefit of the doubt was entirely created for their purposes.
We’re never afforded any of that…
ok, let’s say that you don’t need a permit for conceal/carry in Texas.
do they have regular gun permits?
and, if not, where did their guns come from?
1. Never would have gotten the chance to accumulate so many people, because the first time they saw 10 Black Bikers, the cops would have been called.
2. But, just for the sake of imagination, let’s just pretend that hundreds of Black Bikers would have been able to congregate without the police being called.
3.The moment shooting began, SWAT would have been called.
4. there would be nobody left to arrest, because they would have opened fire without hesitation. I’m just sayin’.
They would’ve just gassed the place, rolled thru with a tank, and arrested everyone knee to the back of the neck style, while smiling for the cameras.
White privilege is knowing that if you are a White male motorcyclist in this country, you will not automatically be criminally profiled and negatively stereotyped by LE just because there happens to be a large number of dangerous, criminal bikers like the Waco bunch. Neither will you automatically be stopped and frisked by LE.
Yep
National Guard from 5 states would have been sent in and would have opened fire.
The Top 10 Most Memorable David Letterman Moments
by Joyce Eng | May 16, 2015 9:30 AM EDT
http://www.tvguide.com/news/top-10-most-memorable-david-letterman-moments/
House Republican faces resignation chatter after FEC fine
05/18/15 10:43 AM
By Steve Benen
One of the more interesting things about Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) is his unusual electoral history. In 2010, the New Hampshire Republican faced off against then-Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) and won, but the two faced off again in 2012 and this time Guinta came up short. They had a re-rematch in 2014, which Guinta won. He’ll probably face Shea-Porter for the fourth consecutive cycle next year.
That is, if he’s still in Congress. The Boston Globe reported the other day on the GOP congressman getting caught up in a campaign-finance scandal, which has suddenly left him without many friends.
After five years of denying wrongdoing, Guinta was found by the Federal Election Commission to have accepted $355,000 in illegal contributions from his parents. He has said the money he used for his first congressional campaign was also his, but now Guinta must refund the full sum to his parents and pay a $15,000 fine.
But it gets worse. On Friday, the conservative publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader ran a six-word editorial with his picture: “Frank Guinta is a damned liar.” The state’s highest-ranking Republican, US Senator Kelly Ayotte, described the incident as “serious and troubling.” Former US Representative Jeb Bradley, a Republican who once employed Guinta on his staff, said Guinta “is on a pretty lonely island” these days.
As a rule, “damned liar” is one of those phrases politicians try to avoid.
The underlying campaign-finance controversy isn’t especially complicated. In 2010, looking to boost his campaign, Guinta loaned himself $355,000, which wouldn’t have been particularly controversial, except for the fact that his disclosure forms suggested he didn’t have $355,000. He said at the time it was from a previously unreported bank account and amended his financial disclosure forms.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/house-republican-faces-resignation-chatter-after-fec-fine
May 17, 2015 2:00 PM
American Crash: Part IV
By D.R. Tucker
President Reagan also sent this country off the tracks by launching the Republican war on women in the summer of 1980. In the name of pandering to anti-feminist fundamentalists, Reagan began the process by which the GOP, and America’s overall political culture, began to turn against half the population.
There was a time when Republicans were bold voices for choice, a time when even prominent members of the Bush family embraced Planned Parenthood. Those days are long gone, thanks to Reagan’s transformation of the GOP. Today, being a Republican means being for a government big enough to get between a woman and her doctor.
What Republicans will never admit is that legalized abortion benefited this country. It economically liberated women and reduced the circumstances that lead to child neglect and child abuse. It ensured that every child was a wanted child. From a certain perspective, what would be more “pro-life” than that?
Imagine what would happen to this country if five right-wing Supreme Court judges overturned Roe v. Wade. As previously noted, rich women would be fine. Women who weren’t rich, however, would have their lives jeopardized, forced to pursue illegal back-alley abortions again, compelled to use extreme measures to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Imagine how many women in this country would be, in effect, put to death by the Supreme Court.
Remember when Colin Powell was booed at the 1996 Republican National Convention when he said he supported a woman’s right to choose?. Those who booed Powell were brought to the party by Reagan, who taught them that they didn’t have to give a damn about women’s rights, didn’t have to give a damn about women’s independence, didn’t have to give a damn about women’s freedom. Reagan taught a generation of men to disrespect women, and taught a generation of women to disrespect themselves and forfeit their rights.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_05/american_crash_part_iv055602.php
Chicas
Tweeting your comments on Twitter. Y’all killing them.
Thank you, SG2!
thanks for holding it down, SG2. You are our twitter voice, and we so appreciate it.
Y’all are rockin and rollin
Scott Walker’s ‘crash course’ isn’t producing results
05/18/15 08:41 AM—UPDATED 05/18/15 08:44 AM
By Steve Benen
For much of the year to date, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) stumbled so badly on foreign policy, it rattled confidence in his presidential candidacy.
When he said union-busting and the Boy Scouts helped prepare him to lead on national security, it seemed as if Walker may not be up to the job. When he said Reagan firing air-traffic controllers was “the most significant foreign policy decision” of his lifetime, it seemed Walker didn’t even understand what “foreign policy” means as an issue.
Last month, President Obama called the Wisconsin governor out by name, telling NPR that Walker’s views might be more sensible “after he’s taken some time to bone up on foreign policy.” Even Walker’s allies struggled to defend him – the best Bill Kristol could come up with was dismissing the governor’s missteps as rookie errors committed during “spring training.”
To his credit, Walker recognized the degree to which he had a problem, and did something about it – in March, the GOP governor started receiving a “crash course” in international affairs. Soon after, the unannounced candidate was eager to show off some of the basics he’d learned.
But yesterday, there was a reminder that Walker’s tutorials aren’t necessarily going well. On “Face the Nation,” CBS’s Bob Schieffer whether he still thinks Reagan firing air-traffic controllers is “the most significant foreign policy statement of your lifetime.” Walker stuck to the same ridiculous line.
“I came of age during the Reagan administration. I was I think I believe just turned 13 two days before his election in 1980. And for me, looking at that kind of leadership, he set the tone, not just domestically with that action; he sent a message around the world as – as you just read off, I think not only to our allies, this is – was someone who was serious that that could be trusted. But in combination with our adversaries, they sent a clear message, not to mess with him.”
Walker first embraced this line in February, before repeating it in March. It still doesn’t make any sense.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/scott-walkers-crash-course-isnt-producing-results
uh huh
uh huh
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/599601670058803200/photo/1
Not just Feingold. Kamala Harris is siding with Elizabeth too. Elizabeth Warren was here as the star speaker for the California Democratic Convention.
“..On federal issues, Harris said she opposes giving President Barack Obama so-called fast-track authority to negotiate a trade agreement, siding with labor unions who have targeted Democrats who support it. Harris said she supports repealing the federal death penalty…”
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article21200154.html#storylink=cpy
Ugh! We need fresh faces in the Democratic Party. The same recycled whining, selfish folks keep the party from MOVING FORWARD & STAYING FORWARD.
Clinton is banking on the Obama coalition to win
By Anne Gearan
May 17 at 9:56 PM
Hillary Rodham Clinton is running as the most liberal Democratic presidential front-runner in decades, with positions on issues from gay marriage to immigration that would, in past elections, have put her at her party’s precarious left edge.
The moves are part of a strategic conclusion by Clinton’s emerging campaign: that it can harness the same kind of young and diverse coalition as Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012, bolstered by even stronger appeal among women.
Her approach — outlined in interviews with aides and advisers — is a bet that social and demographic shifts mean that no left-leaning position Clinton takes now would be likely to hurt her in making her case to moderate and independent voters in the general election next year.
The strategy relies on calculations about the 2016 landscape, including that up to 31 percent of the electorate will be Americans of color — a projection that may be overly optimistic for her campaign. It factors in that a majority of independent voters already support same-sex marriage and the pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that Clinton endorsed this month
The game plan also hinges on a conclusion by Clinton strategists that the broad appeal of issues such as paid family leave, a higher minimum wage and more affordable college will help outweigh any concerns about costs. And while the early liberal tilt focuses on domestic issues more likely to drive voters this cycle, Clinton will also have to win over liberal voters still skeptical of her hawkish reputation on foreign policy.
http://linkis.com/washingtonpost.com/lkUxM
It ain’t just foreign policy that concerns me about Clinton…..just sayin
All the African-American women in my circle voice no appeals for Clinton, none whatsoever. I, including them are not in alignment with these feminist groups that support her either. *LOOKING@N.O.W. & EMILY’SLIST*
We’ve been watching ya’ll, and your silence on the foul, despicable treatment of our FLOTUS, speaks volumes.
NO CLINTONS IN 2016! NONE
Thank you!
And now all the media (with their orders from the Clinton campaign), want to talk about is if The Obamas will be campaigning for her. Again it’s all entitlement and strong-arming. I don’t recall any previous POTUS & FLOTUS campaigning or being strong-armed into campaigning for one specific candidate even before the nomination has happened.
It’s all so presumptuous and entitled. And also this unspoken threat of you’d better campaign for Hillary, or else…
The Obamas deserve the same consideration other First couples got. Nobody expected Laura and George and not even Hillary herself or her husband, to go from eight grueling years, back to the campaign stump.
Obama to Limit Military-Style Equipment for Police Forces
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will ban the federal provision of
some types of military-style equipment to local police departments and sharply
restrict the availability of others, administration officials said.
The ban is part of Mr. Obama’s push to ease tensions between law
enforcement and minority communities in reaction to the crises in Baltimore;
Ferguson, Mo.; and other cities.
He is taking the action after a task force he created in January decided that
police departments should be barred from using federal funds to acquire items that
include tracked armored vehicles, the highest-caliber firearms and ammunition,
and camouflage uniforms. The ban is part of a series of steps the president has
made to try to build trust between law enforcement organizations and the citizens
they are charged with protecting.
Mr. Obama planned to promote the effort on Monday during a visit to
Camden, N.J. The city, racked by poverty and crime, has become a national model
for better relations between the police and citizens after replacing its beleaguered
police force with a county-run system that prioritizes community ties.
Mr. Obama is expected to hold up Camden as a counterpoint to places like
Ferguson, where the killing of a young black man by a white police officer last
summer and the violent protests that followed exposed long-simmering hostility
between law enforcement agencies and minorities in cities around the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/us/politics/obama-to-limit-military-style-equipment-for-police-forces.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0
https://twitter.com/jazziz2/status/600184335375986688
Great story. I shared this with my 19 year old grandson in Florida who is obsessed with media/You Tube/comics/Japanese anime. He’s an excellent writer and pretty talented. John’s story inspired me also.
https://twitter.com/Our4thEstate/status/600177873396203520
https://twitter.com/jazziz2/status/600160889766092800
The consequences of VOTING AGAINST YOUR BEST INTERESTS!
I read the McClatchy article about this and what pissed me off was finding out that Brownback knew the Kansas bill was in conflict with the federal bill when he signed it. He admitted this. This indicates to me that Brownback is the worst kind of political coward on the planet. Instead of informing the far right nuts in the legislature that the bill was flawed, he let them pass it and then he signed it into law, which means that he was willing to break federal law and cost the state to lose $100 million in order to placate them. Now he’s talking about “realigning” the KS bill in a way that complies with the federal law regarding TANF. Those in KS who didn’t bother to vote in the last gubernatorial election are having to witness another instance in incompetent governance that they could have avoided if they’d just shown up to vote this tool out of office.
I lived in Kansas years ago when I was a kid (6-8 years old) and I’m here to tell you it’s a shit hole. It’s gotten even shit holier than it was in 1957.No offense to anyone here who may live in Kansas, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for the people in that state who let this happen. They get what they deserve.
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/600124661121167360
LOCAL MANAGEMENT?! GTFOH
Ummmm so even though the cops knew and were present people still died??? OK, come on cops, Wth!! U kill people who aren’t doing anything and allow criminals to be criminals right in front of your face. Again, you’re not a gang??? Are u sure???
https://twitter.com/deray/status/600113408059559937/photo/1
Sasha is a BEAUTIFUL young lady.
Not you Yahtzee, but it’s sort of unsettling when I read or hear people describe a 14 year old as a ‘woman’..
Mostly because we see how attributing that sort of maturity to young black kids always ultimately works against them…
It automatically creates an unsympathetic and hardened response to them especially by the very same people who are quick to protect even older white kids seen as sympathetic by keeping them innocent kids in society’s eyes for as long as possible…
@eliihass. Speak the Truth.
Remember when Malia wore shorts and a T-shirt with the peace symbol on front? Since when did a young girl wearing shorts and a t-shirt become controversial
The comments were horrendous. They likened her to some whore. Just despicable!
Notice how Sasha walks with her head slightly down . Malia does this too.
They have been coached to not walk like this, not bringing attention to themselves for the media’s delight.
Rubio still struggling on Iraq: ‘I don’t understand the question’
05/18/15 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R) dominated much of the 2016 discussion last week, and for good reason. His inability to speak coherently about his brother’s disastrous war in Iraq – the Florida Republican offered four different answers over the course of four days, none of which was especially compelling – left the ostensible frontrunner looking confused, unprepared, and incompetent.
All of this was excellent news, of course, for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), not just because Bush is a prominent rival for the GOP presidential nomination, but also because Bush’s high-profile stumbles largely overshadowed Rubio’s own ineptitude on the same issue.
But as msnbc’s Anna Brand reported yesterday, Rubio’s clumsiness on his signature issue is starting to catch up with him.
The same Iraq question that Jeb Bush struggled to answer on four different occasions was posed to GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Sunday – and it wasn’t any easier for the senator.
Through a tangled interview, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked the “question of the week,” as he put it to Rubio: “Given what we know now, would you have invaded Iraq in 2003?”
We’ll talk more later about the propriety of the question itself, but for now, the line of inquiry is especially significant to Rubio because he, like Jeb Bush, has offered contradictory responses.
As Chris Wallace noted on the air, Rubio said in March that the Iraq war was worth fighting, but then said last week that he wouldn’t have launched the war if he’d known so much of the intelligence was wrong. It left the impression that the far-right senator believes this was a good, worthwhile war, which he wouldn’t have fought with the benefit of hindsight.
Rubio also said last week that George W. Bush wouldn’t have launched the invasion if he’d known Iraq didn’t have WMD, a claim contradicted by Bush himself.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rubio-still-struggling-iraq-i-dont-understand-the-question
Give this man some water, please.
Hahaha!!!!! Future president?????
May 17, 2015 4:00 PM
American Crash: Part V
By D.R. Tucker
Thom Hartmann is right beyond dispute: the cult(ure) of Reagan brought us the Amtrak disaster in Pennsylvania. The 40th President did so by nurturing a culture of political cynicism in America.
Yes, you can argue that Richard Nixon was the first post-WWII President to inspire cynicism about government by way of his actions in Watergate. However, in the late 1970s, President Carter did everything he could to repair the damage Nixon inflicted upon our trust in government. Sadly, an electorate seduced by well-packaged lies threw Carter out of office before he could finish rebuilding that trust.
When Reagan declared in January 1981 that government was the problem, he inflicted a psychological blow upon this country that was in some ways worse than Watergate. He essentially declared that government was by its very nature incompetent and ineffective and feckless and worthless. He told Americans that is OK to hate their government, OK to put more faith in special interests than the public sector, OK to mock and ridicule federal employees, OK to view government as taking money from hard-working Americans and handing it over to the so-called undeserving.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_05/american_crash_part_v055603.php
I disagree. They don’t want to govern this country. And, they like their constituency stupid.
……………..
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/how-fox-news-is-hurting-the-republicans/393485/
How Fox News Is (Still) Hurting the Republicans
“There is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these [factual] questions than those who don’t watch any news at all.” A political scientist on what Roger Ailes has wrought, including the problems he is creating for his own GOP.
James Fallows
May 17, 2015
Let me recommend for your weekend reading, or for your weekday reading if you’re seeing it then, a detailed study by Bruce Bartlett called “How Fox News Changed American Media and Political Dynamics.” You can download the 18-page PDF from this site of the Social Science Research Network.
The idea that Fox News operates with different aims and by different norms from those of, say, the BBC is familiar. But this presentation is notable for two reasons.
The first is its source — for those who don’t know, Barlett is a veteran of the Reagan and Bush-41 administrations and was an influential early proponent of supply-side / tax-cut economics. He also worked for Ron Paul. Since then he’s harshly criticized the Bush-43 administration, but in no sense does he come at this as a Democratic party operative.
The second and more important reason is Bartlett’s accumulation of detail showing (a) that Fox’s core viewers are factually worse-informed than people who follow other sources, and even those who don’t follow news at all, and (b) that the mode of perpetual outrage that is Fox’s goal and effect has become a serious problem for the Republican party, in that it pushes its candidates to sound always-outraged themselves.
The Rethugs are hurting themselves, and Fox is merrily going along for the ride.
‘Mad Men’ Series Finale Review: The Cryptic End of An Era (SPOILERS)
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/reviews/%e2%80%98mad-men%e2%80%99-series-finale-review-the-cryptic-end-of-an-era-spoilers/ar-BBjU6Yg?ocid=HPCDHP
Watched the Mad Men finale.
I have to say, I’m happy with the way it ended. No disappointment for me.
I concur. Great resolution all the way around. Don Draper, the man whore found some semblance of ENLIGHTENMENT!
Peggy & Joan finally navigated their way to self-enlightenment as well.
I thought it was fitting.
Don Draper being Don Draper. It was the only way to end the show.
Don Draper is never going to have a good personal life. He doesn’t know how to do a good personal life. What was disturbing about Don was that he was letting his professional life get away from him.
I loved that, he has these positive impulses in the personal life, like when he called Betty after talking to Sally. But, Betty set him straight, in no uncertain terms. She didn’t have time to coddle Do.
Then, he spoke with the most important person in his life professionally – Peggy, and she showed the right amount of anger and concern. That was the lifeline he needed, once he decided to come out of his hole.
Don made peace with being Don Draper. And, that’s ok.
When we saw him sitting there, doing yoga, but looking like Don Draper, I knew it would all be OK. That Don Was back.
Closing the show with that iconic ad….OF COURSE, Don did it. He did it with the help of Peggy, who used it to springboard herself to her own agency, IMO.
Knowing that Don was back – professionally – that’s what that ad meant to me. And, it was the right way to end the show.
The ending was very satisfying for me as well.
I remember when Peggy told him he was a ‘MONSTER’ and to move forward, he could take it to heart. Who else did he respect enough who could tell him that and mean it.
Everyone on that show stepped up in some form or fashion. It just Illustrates how we are given the opportunity in all these relationships to either progress or digress.
I liked it also. So many commenters I’ve read on other sites seem to think Don can’t be more enlightened and still go back to advertising. I’m not as down on him as those folks have been. I think he’s a great character who has shown glimpses of empathy and compassion all along.
Everyone has the potential for more enlightenment! That’s the hope and goal for me, anyway.
If I can’t see it in others, then what’s the chance in me achieving it.
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
When people show you who they are, believe them.
However that doesn’t mean they can never change. Take folks at their word, deeds/actions/behaviors. They all have to be in alignment.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Cops: Deadly biker melee started as fist fight inside restaurant. 9 dead. 18 wounded. Some stabbed.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/texas-shootout-among-rival-biker-gangs-leaves-9-dead/ar-BBjTT5e?ocid=u146dhp
Good morning, Ladies. Yup. The moment I heard police arrested suspects I knew the motorcycle gangs were white. Sad, sad commentary. So many white people just don’t get or want to get the disparity of treatment.
LOL@ Bueller anyone?!
Spot on, Kathleen.
The hypocrisy and inequality is GLARING!
Oh, and Today Show chyron called this a “biker gang clash”.
I saw this shit yesterday and almost gave in. They’re not even trying to prove us wrong. Time after time they show their face. 9 people died at this thugfest. 0 people died at the protests.
Well it’s all ISIS on TV this morning, White “THUGS” & enough amo to take out a whole community.
9 DEAD
NO TEAR GAS
NO SWAT TEAMS
NO DOGS
NO STATE OF EMERGENCY
WHY?
WHITE FOLKS WITH GUNS KILLING WHITE FOLKS
Why won’t anyone talk about white on white crime!!!!!!!!!
C’mon, sunshine. You know whites don’t commit crimes. They’re either ‘troubled,’ ‘depressed,’ mischieveous,’ engaged in relvery’ or some such foolishness!
But never criminal activity. Even when the like of James Holmes rolled up in an Auroa, CO theater and blew away 12 people, that mass murderer got out alive.
Ametia, I keep forgetting. Privilege is all in my mind, too. Girl, thanks for reminding me.
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Waco-Shooting-Near-Twin-Peaks-In-Waco-304043711.html?device=phone&c=y
It’s unreal how differently they treat violent white criminals.
I’m sorry, disadvantaged, depressed and misguided, bike riders, not violent criminals. Lol!
Or “Real Americans” exercising their second amendment rights. A bit OT but related, I’ve noticed also how the media put on their “Concern Faces” when talking about heroin epidemic affecting white suburban/exurb neighborhoods, calling it a “tragedy” that is not the fault of the user. In any way shape or form. I love Real Sports and Bryant Gumbel, but Soledad O’Brien did a piece on a heroin problem in some state I don’t remember but the main reason for the problem according to her report was that the kids (all of whom featured were white) were studenet athletes who had gotten hooked on prescription pain killers. Not a word about their families, absent fathers, etc. Now I’m sure there are legions of examples where the media portrayed drug problems in African American communities with such compassion and understanding, right? Bueller? Anyone?
1. On a Sunday
2. In broad daylight
3. Around other people, including families.
4. And yet, the killers lived to be arrested.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
And, were any of the 9 killed, killed by police? Hmmmmm???
If the killers were AA or Muslim, the media would not call it a brawl. They’d be labeled thugs & terrorists.
You can be violent in your whiteness and demand silence in the light, because my shade threatens your sense of being right.
You and others keep on beating that azz on twitter, SG2.
Asking those questions, and pointing out the obvious
They transported them in city buses. I wonder if it was nice and air conditioned for them.
Good morning, everyone!
Happy Monday.
Good Morning, Everyone! :-)))