Sunday Open Thread

Posted on May 31, 2015 by rikyrah

Good Morning. I hope you enjoy this weekend with family and friends.

This week, the President donned a yarmulka at Adas Israel Congregation, where he also sang and danced with some preschoolers, marked the first Memorial Day since our war in Afghanistan came to an end, hosted the NATO Secretary-General in the Oval Office, and answered your questions on climate change during a Twitter Q&A in Miami. That’s May 22 to May 28th or, “High Fives for Everybody!

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52 Responses to Sunday Open Thread

  1. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    MOVIES IN THE PARK AT THE DUSABLE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

    Sat. June 20 – Annie (2014)

    PG | 118 min Comedy, Drama, Family 19 December 2014 (USA)
    A foster kid, who lives with her mean foster mom, sees her life change when business tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.

    Sat. July 18 – Once Upon a Time… When We Were Colored (1995)

    PG 115 min Drama, Romance 26 January 1996 (USA)
    A narrator tells the story of his childhood years in a tightly knit Afro-American community in the deep south under racial segregation

    Sat. Aug. 15 – Roll Bounce (2005)

    PG-13 112 min Comedy, Drama, Music 23 September 2005 (USA)
    1970s roller-skate jams fuel this coming-of-age comedy, as X and his friends, who rule their local rink, are shocked when their home base goes out of business.

    http://www.dusablemuseum.org/events/details/movies-in-the-park-at-the-dusable-museum-of-african-american-history

    Reply
  4. Ametia says:
    May 31, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    Here you go, SG2

    Reply
  5. Ametia says:
    May 31, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    OH MY. If there’ a CURE for this. I DON’T WANT IT. LOL!

    The Stages of Binge-Watching a Show on NetFlix | Awesomely Luvvie
    May 31, 2015

    I don’t know about you but a perfectly enjoyable Friday night or Saturday involves me sitting on my couch watching NetFlix with all my favorite snacks around me.

    NetFlix is slaying traditional television, turning the industry on its heads and getting major networks to step their games up. They take risks on their shows and it pays off in dividends because we’re all being rewarded with brilliant series like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and their latest offering: Grace & Frankie (with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Wasterson.

    http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/05/stages-of-binge-watching-show-netflix.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Luvvie+%28Awesomely+Luvvie%29

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      May 31, 2015 at 5:02 pm

      I follow podcasts on Afterbuzz TV. So, they are reviewing the shows, one at a time, so I’m trying to slow down and not binge as much as I used to.

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 31, 2015 at 5:09 pm

      I’m catching up on my DVD collection. I don’t use Netflix, RoKo, Amazon Prime, etc. Not yet any way.

      Reply
  8. Liza says:
    May 31, 2015 at 3:30 pm

    The cop says, “Grab anybody, they’re all in the street.” Then this.

    Full video. This is an illegal use of the Taser on a man/woman who posed ZERO threat. Walking away from a protest. https://t.co/98P8IMK4bS— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) May 31, 2015

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 12:40 pm

    Tortuous History Traced in Sunken Slave Ship Found Off South Africa

    WASHINGTON — On Dec. 3, 1794, a Portuguese slave ship left Mozambique, on the east coast of Africa, for what was to be a 7,000-mile voyage to Maranhão, Brazil, and the sugar plantations that awaited its cargo of black men and women.

    Shackled in the ship’s hold were between 400 and 500 slaves, pressed flesh to flesh with their backs on the floor. With the exception of daily breaks to exercise, the slaves were to spend the bulk of the estimated four-month journey from the Indian Ocean across the vast South Atlantic in the dark of the hold.

    In the end, their journey lasted only 24 days. Buffeted by strong winds, the ship, the São José Paquete Africa, rounded the treacherous Cape of Good Hope and came apart violently on two reefs not far from Cape Town and only 100 yards from shore, but in deep, turbulent water. The Portuguese captain, crew and half of the slaves survived. An estimated 212 slaves did not, and perished in the sea.

    On Tuesday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture, along with the Iziko Museums of South Africa, the Slave Wrecks Project, and other partners, will announce in Cape Town that the remnants of the São José have been found, right where the ship went down, in full view of Lion’s Head Mountain. It is the first time, researchers involved in the project say, that the wreckage of a slaving ship that went down with slaves aboard has been recovered.

    The story of the São José, like the slave trade itself, spanned continents and oceans, from fishing villages in Africa to sheikhdoms where powerful chiefs plotted with European traders to traffic in human beings to work on plantations in the New World. Fittingly, the discovery of the São José also encompassed continents and oceans. Divers from the United States joined divers in South Africa, while museum curators in Africa, Europe and the Americas pored through old ship manifests looking for clues.

    In the end, the breakthrough that the shipwreck was of a vessel that had been carrying slaves came from something unexpected, the iron blocks of ballasts that were used to offset the weight of slaves in the hold.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/world/africa/tortuous-history-traced-in-sunken-slave-ship-found-off-south-africa.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 12:38 pm

    Does anyone else watch TURN: Washington Spies on AMC?

    Reply
  15. Ametia says:
    May 31, 2015 at 12:19 pm

    Here’s Carly!

    Reply
  16. Liza says:
    May 31, 2015 at 12:00 pm

    Well, I’m not exactly fired up and ready to go after listening to O’Malley’s speech.

    I find it interesting the way he glosses over Baltimore, saying it is about more than race and policing, it is about “everything it is supposed to mean to be American.” Then he immediately starts talking about unemployment, extreme poverty, etc… to get to his core message about “rebuilding the American Dream.”

    Most of what he said was just too vague and unoriginal for me, and I think he went into overdrive on his usage of the “American Dream.” And no mention of President Obama or any credit whatsoever for anything accomplished in the last six years. If anything, a very negative indictment of the Obama Administration for not prosecuting anyone on Wall Street. But nothing positive.

    I wonder how any Democratic candidate thinks he/she could win in 2016 without basically the same coalition of voters that voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 ? How do you get those folks off the couch and into a voting booth WITHOUT GIVING ANY CREDIT TO THE PRESIDENT THEY VOTED FOR TWICE? Who in the blazing hell do these Democratic candidates think will be voting for them?

    So this guy wants to blather about “the American Dream” and make vague references to inequality and immigration reform and so forth. I just wonder how many folks who are on the front lines of the protests right now are saying, “We must rebuild the American Dream and America must have a strong middle class and be the world leader.” This is just so hollow.

    Mr. O’Malley, you don’t seem to be aware of this and you certainly don’t want to own this, but those protesters in Baltimore are demanding basic human rights. They would like to walk out the front door and get from point A to point B without being profiled, harassed, intimidated, assaulted, mutilated, or murdered by a cop or a gang of cops. And if you do not understand this crisis, and you cannot speak to this crisis, and you cannot own what has happened in your own state that you governed, then you can probably forget about the Obama coalition of voters which means you can forget about being the president.

    I’m curious to know what others think of this speech. He didn’t exactly hit this one out of the park.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 31, 2015 at 12:12 pm

      Liza, Your comment is fine right here.

      Your comment is spot on, and I could not agree MORE. And especially that double-speak about B-More. He can’t run from his tenure as governor of MD and the decaying communities.

      O’Malley and any other Dem candidate who spews this RECYCLED, REDUNDANT jibberish and distance themelves from PBO will never get my VOTE.

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        May 31, 2015 at 12:34 pm

        “Recycled, redundant jibberish” is right. Damn, at least give some of us some credit for being awake. Well, my first impression is he’s just another politician who doesn’t understand what is happening in this country, but thinks he does, and would like to believe that American history is all about the Allies marching into Paris and nothing else. Too bad.

        I suspect that his campaign will go nowhere and he’ll lose in Iowa. But it may just be a testing of the waters for a future time.

        Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      May 31, 2015 at 12:48 pm

      You are on the point, Liza.

      We worked our hearts out to elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

      And,you don’t want to give credit to him and all his accomplishments?

      HOW THE PHUCK DO YOU THINK FOLKS ARE GONNA WORK FOR YOU?

      Reply
      • Ametia says:
        May 31, 2015 at 5:11 pm

        Seriously, I can’t with these Dems.

        I believe they can’t wait to get back to BUSINESS as USUAL, after PBO leaves office.

        Reply
  17. Ametia says:
    May 31, 2015 at 11:47 am

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mTpDrbsKw4

    PBO’s administration is now CLEANING UP YOUR MESS from your tenure as GOVERNOR of BALTIMORE, Martin O’malley!

    Reply
  19. Ametia says:
    May 31, 2015 at 11:28 am

    Medal of Honor At Last for Black WWI Veteran

    After almost a century, Henry Johnson, nicknamed the “black death” for his heroism in the Argonne, will be fully honored.

    Henry Johnson, all 5-feet-4 of him, was given the name “black death” for his valor in the Argonne forest during World War I. Cries of “Oh, you Black Death!” at a homecoming parade in Harlem greeted his return to the U.S. after the war. But Johnson’s legend quickly faded. He was too black to be an American hero and too crippled by war to hold his old job. He died in 1929, just over a decade after the war ended, destitute and unheralded.

    Snip

    On June 2, nearly a century after Henry Johnson made his legend fighting in Europe, President Obama will posthumously award him the Medal of Honor. Along with Johnson, the president will present the Medal of Honor to Army Sergeant William Shemin, a Jewish World War I veteran.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/31/medal-of-honor-at-last-for-black-wwi-veteran.html?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning

    Reply
  20. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:50 am

    I continue to pray and send my caring supportive thoughts to the mothers seeking justice for their children.

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-skK3JPITrME/VL3oJ6tK4zI/AAAAAAAAHLw/Afe2UWFtwpk/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-01-20%2Bat%2B12.25.02%2BAM.png

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 31, 2015 at 11:14 am

      PBO becoming POTUS never hinged upon thank yous from Texas Republicans.

      It really is a THANKLESS JOB, the presidency.

      Petty SONS-O-BITCHES.

      Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:27 am

    Photonic Gaucho @goddamnedfrank
    If you can’t express condolences to someone for the death of their child w/out mentioning how much you disagree w/ them about shit, shut up.

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:23 am

    Statement by the President on the Passing of Beau Biden
    Michelle and I are grieving tonight. Beau Biden was a friend of ours. His beloved family – Hallie, Natalie, and Hunter – are friends of ours. And Joe and Jill Biden are as good as friends get.

    Beau took after Joe. He studied the law, like his dad, even choosing the same law school. He chased a life of public service, like his dad, serving in Iraq and as Delaware’s Attorney General. Like his dad, Beau was a good, big-hearted, devoutly Catholic and deeply faithful man, who made a difference in the lives of all he touched – and he lives on in their hearts.

    But for all that Beau Biden achieved in his life, nothing made him prouder; nothing made him happier; nothing claimed a fuller focus of his love and devotion than his family.

    Just like his dad

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:22 am

    Prayers to the Biden family.

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:20 am

    @sfpelosi: The White House opened an online memory book for those wishing to extend condolences in memory of #BeauBiden: https://t.co/POItYtvZNL

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:18 am

    Breaking News ✔ @BreakingNews
    State Department: ‘Secretary Kerry is stable and likely suffered a leg injury. He did not lose consciousness’ – @NBCNews

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    May 31, 2015 at 10:17 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      May 31, 2015 at 10:53 am

      Ametia,

      I so appreciate that you posted Beau’s speech. (I was going to look for it this morning.)

      Reply
  32. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    May 31, 2015 at 6:51 am

    The Afro comb and the politics of hair: Audio slideshow
    The Afro comb has been used by people in Africa and the continent’s diaspora for centuries.

    One of the combs in the video slide show at this linked article is 5000 years old.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-23995659

    Reply
  33. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    May 31, 2015 at 6:48 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Rikyrah, thanks for posting the West Wing video for this week.

    Reply

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