Happy Monday, Everyone! This week we’ll showcase orignal musical groups/artists and covers. If you know of others, please feel free to post them. Thanks!
Song: WHITER SHADE OF PALE
“A Whiter Shade of Pale” is the debut single by the English rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The record reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks.[1] Without much promotion, it reached No. 5 on the US charts.[2] One of the counterculture anthems of the 1967 Summer of Love, it is one of fewer than 30 singles to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide.[3][4]
With its Bach-derived instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics, written by the song’s co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid,[5] and organist Matthew Fisher, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reached No. 1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. As of 2009, it was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the United Kingdom,[6] and the UK performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.[7] Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed “A Whiter Shade of Pale” No. 57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 1977, the song was named joint winner (along with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”) of the Best British Pop Single 1952–1977 at the Brit Awards.[8] In 1998 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[9] More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known.[10] The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films, including The Big Chill, Purple Haze, Breaking the Waves, The Boat That Rocked, Oblivion, and in Martin Scorsese’s segment of New York Stories. Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films, for example by King Curtis in Withnail and I and by Annie Lennox in The Net.
The original writing credits were for Brooker and Reid only. On 30 July 2009, Matthew Fisher won co-writing credit for adding the organ parts to the original music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords.
Lyrics[edit]
Reid got the title and starting point for the song at a party. He overheard someone at the party saying to a woman, “You’ve turned a whiter shade of pale,” and the phrase stuck in his mind.[15][16] The original lyrics had four verses, of which only two are heard on the original recording. The third verse has been heard in live performances by Procol Harum, and more seldom also the fourth.[17] The author of Procol Harum: beyond the pale, Claes Johansen, suggests that the song “deals in metaphorical form with a male/female relationship which after some negotiation ends in a sexual act.”[16] This is supported by Tim de Lisle in Lives of the Great Songs, who remarks that the lyrics concern a drunken seduction, which is described through references to sex as a form of travel, usually nautical, using mythical and literary journeys.[18] Other observers have also commented that the lyrics concern a sexual relationship.[15]
Structurally and thematically, the song is unusual in many respects. While the recorded version is 4:03 long, it is composed of only two verses, each with chorus. The piece is also more instrument-driven than most songs of the period, and with a much looser rhyme scheme. Its unusually allusive and referential lyrics are much more complex than most lyrics of the time. Thus, this piece can be considered an early example of progressive rock.
The phrase a whiter shade of pale has since gained widespread use in the English language, noticed by several dictionaries.[19][20][21] As such, the phrase is today often used in contexts independent of any consideration of the song. It has also been heavily paraphrased, in forms like an Xer shade of Y, to the extent that it has been recognised[22][23] as a snowclone – a type of cliché and phrasal template.
Procol Harum
Percy Sledge
Joe Cocker
Annie Lennox
Song: NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN
“Nights in White Satin” is a 1967 single by The Moody Blues, written and composed by Justin Hayward and first featured on the album Days of Future Passed. When first released in 1967, the song reached #19 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the first significant chart entry by the band since “Go Now” and the recent lineup change.
It charted at #2 in November on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Cash Box in the United States, earning a Gold certification for sales of a million copies. It also reached #1 in Canada. In the wake of its US success, the song re-charted in the UK in late 1972 and climbed to #9. The song was re-released yet again in 1979, and charted for a third time in the UK at #14.
Moody Blues
David Lanz
Gregoriann Chants
SG2, here’s the video!
They will try everything and anything…
Ms Mosby is their biggest nightmare. An honorable public servant who will do her due diligence. They’re desperate to find something to hurt her reputation, but they’ll fail.
As silly as it may sound, watching her Judge Judy appearance as a young college student was instructive. This is a young woman who not only prepares, but is honest. She didn’t sue for stress and suffering which she could have. She only asked for damages specific to her actual loss, and chronologically supported with pictures and receipts. Nothing more, nothing less. Upright. Honorable.
And I defintely think Mosby is smarter than every brain combined on Fox, and she knows better than to ‘like’ a tweet, even if it did come from 3 Chics calling the cops thugs.
And yes, 3 Chics STANDS BY THE 6 COPS ARE THUGS TWEET!
I am not kidding. They have been digging through her trash.
https://twitter.com/goodnewsgoddess/status/605484347874000896
https://twitter.com/PragObots/status/605479844621643776/photo/1
https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept/status/605496478359031808/photo/1
Media Alert:
So You Think You Can Dance is premiering tonight!!!
MICHELLE OBAMA WILL BE INTERVIEWED ON THE PREMIERE EP!!!
Thanks!
You beat me to it. Lots of changes this season. Mary Murphy gone as judge too.
GOP hits another roadblock on Obamacare repeal
After winning both chambers of Congress, they thought they could get a repeal bill to the president’s desk. It’s turning out to be more complicated than that.
6/1/15 5:03 AM EDT
The GOP’s months-long debate over when and how to send a repeal of Obamacare to the president’s desk now appears to have an answer.
They can’t do it all at once.
Repealing the law “root and branch” is probably out of the question, the chamber’s parliamentarian is hinting, because some parts of Obamacare don’t affect the federal budget. That’s a must in order to use the obscure procedure known in Senate parlance as reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to avoid the 60-vote filibuster hurdle and pass bills on a simple majority vote.
That’s not the GOP’s only problem. Under those rules any Obamacare repeal has to reduce — not increase — the deficit. So Republicans will have to pick and choose which parts of the Affordable Care Act they most want to ditch.
Obama will, of course, veto any bill that significantly damages his signature domestic policy achievement. But the entire process has the makings of a difficult political exercise that will reveal something about the GOP’s priorities when it comes to the reviled law, forcing the party to go beyond the pile-on repeal rhetoric and say specifically what it would do and how it would pay for it.
Republicans could try to get rid of the mandates and taxes, but then they’d have to plug a trillion-dollar hole. Cut the Medicaid expansion to the states? Sounds simple enough, but then they could put themselves at odds with governors.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/republicans-obamacare-repeal-118472.html#ixzz3bqLI79yU
mofos, please
……….
Republicans seek to win over black voters once Obama’s gone
Republicans believe they have an opportunity to nudge their support up among black voters in the 2016 presidential election with President Obama not on the ballot — and take a major stride toward winning the White House in the process.
But they also acknowledge that it won’t be an easy task.
Republicans believe the 2016 Democratic nominee will not be able to produce the spike in black turnout nor the increase in already-overwhelming black support that Obama enjoyed in his two victories.
Even a modest rise in black backing for the GOP could be critical in swing states, independent experts acknowledge.
“There is not going to be any massive increase,” said David Bositis, a researcher specializing in voting behavior who worked for many years for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black-oriented think tank.
“But in many places it does not take a massive increase. You have states like Ohio and Florida where you only have to have a very modest switch to flip the state.”
The last Republican presidential nominee to win 15 percent or more of black support was President Ford in 1976.
And experts warn that major shifts in voting behavior are a long time coming.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/243505-republicans-seek-to-win-over-black-voters-once-obamas-gone
GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!
Yes, because their downright dehumanization of our black First Lady and lack of respect for our black President, shows just how much Republicans love and value us as black people..
Eliihass,
They and their sycophants never got it. If they had merely disrespected this President as President that would be one thing. But it was the constant dehumanization of not only the P, but his entire family . They think that we didn’t notice? Barack and Michelle Obama are the very best that this community could offer this country, and they consistently disrespected them. He is the President of the United States . Don’t they know that we know if they treat him and his family like this, we know what they think of us.
The Unlikely Race-Blind Mastermind Who’s Teeing Up the Roberts Court Just Scored Again
By Cristian Farias
The Supreme Court did not rule on any blockbuster cases this week, but it did accept an appeal in Evenwel v. Abbott, a case expected to become a blockbuster of its own when the court begins its new term in October.
Behind the case is Edward Blum. He is not himself a lawyer, or even a party in the case, but he’s made a name for himself getting the Supreme Court to hear landmark disputes — all of them with huge constitutional implications. Blum heads the Project on Fair Representation, a little nonprofit that funds litigation aimed at abolishing all distinctions and preferences based on race.
Here’s proof of his influence: In 2013 alone, the court decided two cases he helped engineer back-to-back: Fisher v. University of Texas and Shelby County v. Holder. One almost dealt a blow to affirmative action nationwide; the other effectively crippled the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Roberts court’s appetite for these cases is proven, and Blum is the man bringing them.
Since Fisher didn’t exactly come out the way Blum would’ve wanted — the justices kicked the case back to an appellate court for a second look, and he lostagain there — he decided to bring it back to the high court for a do-over. And he just may get his wish: Yesterday, the justices considered whether Blum’s case against the admissions policy at the University of Texas is worth reviewing again.
If the savvy Blum gets his way — veteran Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro calls him a “mastermind” — he will effectively have two cases before the Supreme Court, ready for argument for when the court returns from its summer recess.
This is a remarkable success rate, though there’s nothing remarkable about how these cases come about. All of them seem to follow the same mold: Identify a legal principle, usually a settled equal-protection standard or statute from the ’60s and ’70s; recruit plaintiffs who are presumably “harmed” by the principle or its application to a specific policy; and then argue that it’s illegal to keep the principle, its application, or the policy in the books.
In November, for example, Students for Fair Admissions, a new advocacy groupBlum formed, filed a lawsuit against Harvard University challenging its admissions policy. Like the Fisher case, the long game behind the Harvard suit is to target affirmative action, but using a slightly different vehicle: The allegation there is that the university “intentionally and improperly” discriminates against Asian-American applicants on the basis of their race, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/meet-the-mastermind-teeing-up-the-roberts-court.html
Got news for those Asians who took this fool up on his ‘ help’. …
If they think that those Legacy Ivy Leaguers are going to go all Meritocracy and allow them to take their children’s spots…
well, I ain’t been Black in America longer than 3 days.
I’m just sayin’.
https://youtu.be/wua7pGCZikc
Powerful. having, keeping, spending, and saving Money is all about consciousness.
https://twitter.com/PragObots/status/605462749951295488/photo/1
Once again folks, it’s time to play ‘WHO LOVES THE NEGROES MORE”
Just wait, she gets the white wimmens to go out first and spread her declarations of love for da negroes, then the coonery will commence with the negro wimmnens.
LMAO.
It’s becoming rather bizarre and otherworldly to hear people pretend that Hillary is on some team with President Obama, while Sanders, Warren and O’Malley are on the opposing team attacking team Hillary and by extension President Obama.
Since when did this happen? Since when are O’Malley’s sins against Baltimore and Bernie Sanders’ ill-advised 1972 fiction and lack of a well-thought plan to address black issues because, Vermont, — and de Blasio’s progressive stance, since when did these become infinitely more abominable than any and all of Hillary Clinton’s well-documented transgressions?
What the heck is going on..? When did the con artists get us to feed into the ridiculous notion that any potential liberal competition against Hillary, is an attack on President Obama? Since when did Hillary become interchangeable with President Obama..?
Please, let’s not fall for the okey dokey..
https://youtu.be/xgZvdl5qE58
http://youtu.be/s11PotwCcEg
https://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/605363076783702016
Activists Crash O’Malley’s Presidential Announcement: ‘He Must Atone’ For Zero Tolerance Policing
by Kira Lerner Posted on May 30, 2015 at 3:55 pm
BALTIMORE, MD — Former Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley (D) chose the Charm City skyline to provide the backdrop for his speech Saturday morning announcing his campaign for the presidency. While the former Maryland governor spoke about the American Dream, telling the audience “there is no such thing as a spare American,” protesters and activists shared the spotlight as they spoke out about O’Malley’s failed police policies from the other side of the stage.
“Last month, television sets around the world were filled with the anger and the rage, and the flames of some of the humblest and hardest hit neighborhoods of Baltimore,” O’Malley said, addressing early in his speech the unrest and racial tensions that swept Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray. “For all of us who have given so much of our energies to making our city a safer, fairer, more just and more prosperous place, it was a heartbreaking night in the life of our city.”
From his stage overlooking Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, he added that “what took place here was not only about race, not only about policing in America” but about “everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.”
But Baltimore residents who were also in attendance in Federal Hill Park said Gray’s death last month and the ensuing demonstrations and riots were a direct result of O’Malley’s police policies as mayor. A few minutes into O’Malley’s speech, Megan Kenny, a Baltimore activist holding a sign reading “Stop Killer Cops,” began marching and chanting “black lives matter” as police attempted to stop the interruption.
“The unrest and the unlawful police practices stem from O’Malley’s zero tolerance policies,” Kenny said. “His zero tolerance policies were ineffective, period.”
As mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007, O’Malley instated a “broken windows”-style of policing in an attempt to reduce crime which was rampant in the city at the time. Police officers were encouraged to make arrests for minor-level offenses, with the idea being that minor disorders create an environment in which violent crime occurs. O’Malley also implemented CityStat, a data-tracking management tool which was able to maximize efficiency and hold local government accountable. But Kenny said the tool also encouraged police to unfairly target minority neighborhoods and disproportionately lock up black men and women.
“There was a staggering number of arrests under his administration,” she said. “I want to be very clear about this — crime data is not a measure of civilian behavior. Crime data and arrest statistics are a measure of police behavior.”
…
Since his time as mayor, academics have come to question the effectiveness of the broken windows policing, Crenson said, adding that O’Malley takes credit for improving the safety of Baltimore when the rate of violent crime was actually dropping across the country, even in cities that did not use his style of policing.
…
Also in the audience at O’Malley’s speech was Tawanda Jones, whose brother Tyrone West was killed by Baltimore cops in 2013.
“My brother was brutally murdered and it stems from him,” Jones told ThinkProgress, pointing to O’Malley on stage. “He locked up 100,000 people for nothing, made all the stop-and-frisk laws, and now our black people get pulled over for doing nothing, just driving. And we still don’t have answers.”
West was killed by police officers after he was pulled over while driving through Northeast Baltimore in July 2013. His family has maintained that he was brutally beaten by the officers, although an autopsy revealed he had a heart condition which was exacerbated by the violent encounter. An independent review panel last year found that police made tactical errors and did not follow basic policies.
“[O”Malley] goes around bragging about all the arrests he made,” Jones said. “Petty crimes! And meanwhile, our people are dying. Our streets aren’t even safe anymore because all of the anger here in our city. And now you want to be the president? If he wants to come home, he must atone.”
Jones and other activists also staged a “die-in” in the park, laying in the grass holding signs accusing O’Malley’s zero tolerance policies of creating an environment where black men and women are killed by police.
African-American activist Kwame Rose approached O’Malley supporters from the street directly outside the event area. In addition to O’Malley’s failed policing policies, Rose also took issue with O’Malley’s spending as mayor.
“Martin O’Malley devoted a lot of attention and efforts to push legislation to fund a new youth juvenile justice center in downtown Baltimore — a $300 million facility,” he told ThinkProgress.
“Meanwhile, there hasn’t been a new school built in Baltimore City in 50 years… It doesn’t add up.”
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/05/30/3664429/omalley-baltimore/
And will the TRUTH set us FREE?
It just amazes me. What does he figure he is going to use for a record of accomplishment? He wouldn’t even be able to win his own state.
LOL Don’t hold back, Liza!
Man brutally bashed 82-year-old Sikh with a pipe for looking like one of ‘those people’
01 JUN 2015 AT 12:23 ET
The man who committed a hate crime against an elderly man in California is believed to have misidentified the victim’s religious identity, KFSN reports.
Gilbert Garcia, Jr., a resident of Fresno, California, bashed 82-old Piara Singh two years ago. He has admitted to his crime but his sentencing has been delayed three times.ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s not acceptable to attack an old, 82-year-old, person minding his own business outside our temple,” said Sikh community advocate Ike Grewal.
Garcia had used a metal pipe to beat the elderly man just outside his Sikh temple in Southwest Fresno, where he’d been preparing free meals for the hungry. Garcia was silent during the attack, but according to investigators, he had shouted that he hated“those people” and wanted to bomb their temples after being arrested, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The attack left Singh with two dozen stitches on his head, a punctured lung and broken ribs. The physical injuries have healed but Singh is still dealing with the mental trauma left by his attack.
“He has made good progress,” Grewal told KFSN. “He is doing fine, but he too is anxious. He’s so afraid now. That has affected him and he is traumatized by the event.”
http://abc30.com/news/fresno-hate-crime-motivated-by-mistaken-religious-identity/755535/
Zandar has a recap of the four Supreme Court decisions
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SCOTUS Update
Posted by Zandar at 12:15 pm .
.
It being a Monday in June, we have Supreme Court decisions. Four decently big ones came down today, Bank of America vs Caulkett, EEOC v Abercrombie & Fitch, Elonis v US, and Mellouli v Lynch.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/06/01/scotus-update-2/
twitter about Lindsey Graham entering the 2016 GOP Race…
go twitter
………..
Allan Brauer @allanbrauer 7m7 minutes ago
Lindsey Graham 2016: A Chicken in Every Pot and a Strapping Buck to Bust Up Every Chiffarobe
http://twitter.com/VanityFair/status/605406096824647681/photo/1
Some day ladies, may we have a really honest conversation about how we as women and children would honestly respond to/emotionally and psychologically handle the gender transition of our better half/father…
Right now, I have no issues with folks who go through gender changes.
I’m really not interested in Bruce/Caitlyn and that Kardasian family, who sell themselves to the highest bidder for $$$ and fame.
And If someone in my family, husband, sister, or brother went through a change like this, My love wouldn’t change for them, their role in life would change, but the bottom line is if they can accept the change and all that comes with it, I’d support them.
Serisouly don’t think they’d want to go before a camera and declare their new found genderhood. This is just me, I can’t speak for my siblings.
And best believe, no one in my family would ever make the cover of Vanity Fair.
We can change our hair color, try to change our skin color, get nose jobs, genital replacements, etc. When all is said and done, if there isn’t any love for self and others, it is for NAUGHT!
I understand that his youngest daughter who’s 17 is having a really hard time dealing with her father’s transition, and his sons from his two previous marriages before Kris, are struggling coming to terms with the ‘loss’ of their father…And Kris Jenner who I have very little patience for, has said that it feels like a death for her – that it feels like their life together as husband and wife was all a lie and never happened. They tell conflicting stories. Kris swears she was unaware, and Caitlyn (Bruce) insists he hinted at it sometime during their marriage.
My question is if Caitlyn knew these truths about herself as she’s admitted she knew as far back as the late 70’s early 80’s, would it not have made more sense not to remarry twice more as a man, and father even more children? As much as it’s great living out ones truth, perhaps it helps to do so in ways that aren’t seen as selfish and potentially hurtful and traumatizing to unwitting participants like a spouse and children who’re blindsided, and now also have to deal with their own versions of the aftermath of such a transition.
Nobody begrudges one living out their truth, but not when there is what could have been easily preventable and rather selfish inclusion without permission and in a rather misleading manner, of children and spouses, along the way.
It’s alright to be who you are, but by all means do so without misleadingly miring others in your process of figuring it out.
My neighbor and friend committed suicide after her husband of many years came out; Their freshman college daughter killed herself 3 years after her mother’s death. Their son is completely traumatized by all this and now lives with his mother’s relatives who are trying to make sure he doesn’t do what his sister did. She was such a brave and seemingly well-adjusted girl like her mother, and was such a trooper after her mother died. Her suicide blindsided everyone.
We can live our truths, but let’s live it in unselfish ways. If you’re having gender dysphoria or still processing other gender related /sexual orientation, perhaps it’s a good idea as a grown up not to marry without fully sharing your truth with your spouse to be – or to remain unattached until such a time as you are ready to live fully in your truth, with a partner who is fully aware and happy to share your truth and life…It’s unfair to do otherwise.
This is a very complex subject. We humans are multidimensional. I have no patience with any of Kardashians or Jenner. They took what is a very complex and sensitive issue for many folks, and sensationalized for profit. They are ALL SELFISH.
It is complex Ametia, but at some point we all have to start having honest conversations about this. It will save a whole lot of future spouses and children a lot of unnecessary pain. I come to this as someone who has seen this up close and personal a few too many times. Caitlyn may be an all too convenient poster girl for those eager to use her and her story to fight for transgender rights. But it’s not quite the neatly packaged story as those who want to use this story tell it. The children and spouse are asked to downplay their own honest emotions and confusion that’s parallel playing to Caitlyn’s. They’re told to shut up, play down their own personal and emotional traumas processing and dealing with this, and just get with the program.
Laverne Cox, Janet Mock and others are fully living out their lives – yes probably with some initial disapproval from some relatives and others. But that’s infinitely different from Caitlyn’s story. Caitlyn had the option of not remarrying and figuring things out for himself, after his first marriage failed. But that was not the case. There’s just too much selfish happening here for me.
I remember Bruce and his right-wing politics very well, and his utter disdain of President Obama, including an interview he gave at some gas station about how President Obama was undeserving of a Nobel Peace prize.
But today we’re celebrating his reincarnation as some trailblazer, never mind the collateral damage done along the way. Niet.
Baltimore Cops On Why They Took Over, And Why They’re Now Gone
Puja Patel
5/29/15 4:55pm
There are no more cops in riot gear in Baltimore, but the severe shift in their presence —from armored cops policing peaceful protests to their laidback distance during the high homicide count this month— can’t help but feel like a silent counter-threat to some citizens of West Baltimore. The end of May marks the city’s deadliest month in over 15 years, with more than two dozen people shot over Memorial Day weekend, many in the neighborhood where Freddie Gray was killed by police force and where protests in his memory ended in riots and a mayor-requested state of emergency.
“The city wants people to die, they don’t care about us,” a mother and resident of the Gilmor Homes, where Gray grew up, tells me. We talk about the 9-year-old boy who was shot in the leg on Memorial Day. (Yesterday, on May 28, a 7-year-old boy and his mother were both shot in the head and died.) “First they bring in military as we mourn the loss of a young man, like we gon’ try to get another one of our kids killed. And best believe that when the TV [cameras] go away, the [cops] do too.”
If it’s surprising, it shouldn’t be. The last time I was in Baltimore, during the week of the Freddie Gray protests and the State’s Attorney’s decision to charge the six officers involved in his arrest and subsequent death, the sense of community between locals was strong, supportive, and vibrant. The suspicion and distrust of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was at an all-time high: In the span of a few days, she described teenagers who were corralled by police in riot-gear as they left their school as “thugs,” suggested citizens act as community peacekeepers between riot-gear cops and violent citizens, showed distrust of peaceful protesting by instituting a city-wide curfew, and even butted heads with the officers from the Baltimore City Police Department.
Some of the same confusion that plagued the community then persists today, because Freddie Gray’s death hasn’t explicitly brought about local political transparency or policing policy change. Not yet, at least—and probably not for a long time, if ever. What is clear is that last month’s protests embroiled Baltimore’s local government in a nationally televised ideological PR scandal, as Gray’s death rightly added to the rally-cry for a national movement against police brutality. Even as government-friendly outlets like CNN and FOX have told the story in ways sympathetic to local government, though, residents know that the problems were deeply systemic. There are Bad Cops and Good Cops, but the latter often silenced by the former; community police are pitted against the public by informal arrest quotas; the mayor’s word is only as good as the camera following her; and the sorts of policy changes that allow the political class to position itself as responsive to the citizenry are often the kind that prevent police from protecting and serving effectively.
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/baltimore-cops-on-why-they-took-over-and-why-theyre-no-1707550890?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
great comment:
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/honestly-this-feels-a-lot-like-punishment-i-m-not-say-1707837661
Of course it’s PASSIVE AGRESSIVE behavior by the MOFO PD
Basically, if ya’ll don’t shut the fuck up and let us beat the crap out of when we feel like it, we ain’t coming to the hood at all.
Now the media is helping the police unions beat the war drums OF FEAR of doing their jobs, because, well you know, they can’t give a negro a major beatdown and kill them like wild animals for no reason, other than their ignorant, racists, brutality mentality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm0ZfeJ6k04
Afraid to do your jobs, police officers, DON’T JOIN THE FORCE and if you do, GET TRAINED & SOTP KILLING UNARMED BLACK PEOPLE!
“..Afraid to do your jobs, police officers, DON’T JOIN THE FORCE…”
Thank you.
A year after armed standoff, Cliven Bundy still star of his own Tea Party-tinged western
His Nevada ranch was the scene a year ago of a showdown with federal agents over grazing rights, who stood down after he was backed by a gun-toting ‘citizen militia’ from across the US. Today he’s yet to pay any fees and says: ‘We might be the freest place on earth’
…………………………
Bundy, who has denied been a racist, sighed and shook his head at the memory. He said it was all a “misunderstanding” and that he hoped to regain lost support.
“I made a mistake when I called the black negro. My intent was not to be prejudicial but for blacks to enjoy this freedom. What I’m saying is that the black and the brown communities should be concerned about freedom and liberty.”
He said he had not personally heard any complaints from ethnic minority groups. “I’ve never had a black person or a brown person ever say anything bad about me.”
Then he proceeded to make fresh contentious comments, first by repeating the comparison between slavery and welfare dependence: “Receiving welfare and housing – is that a sense of slavery when you get caught up in that and can’t get out of it for generations? They don’t have freedom.”
When he flies, Bundy said, he often sees well-dressed, successful black people. “They really are progressing and prospering. I understand they’ve raised themselves up to a point where they are equal with the rest of us. And I’m so happy for them. But what about those that are in the ghetto and can’t get out?”
The only time he lived in a city was in Los Angeles in 1965 during the Watts race riots, he said. Instead of government handouts or government jobs, ghetto-dwellers needed private-sector work. “We don’t need leeches feeding off us and eating off of us. We need producers.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/cliven-bundy-standoff-grazing-rights-nevada-ranch
elections have consequences.
so do vanity third-party candidates.
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LePage: I’ll veto every Democratic bill until Legislature agrees to kill income tax
By Mario Moretto, BDN Staff
Posted May 29, 2015, at 2:27 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — During a fiery news conference that lasted nearly an hour, Gov. Paul LePage pledged Friday to veto every bill sponsored by a Democrat until his opposition relents and accepts his constitutional amendment to eliminate Maine’s income tax.
LePage this year has proposed a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the state’s income tax by the year 2020. Republicans, who have shied away from the governor’s more comprehensive tax reform efforts, have rallied around the amendment.
Democrats have opposed it, sparking LePage’s trademark fury during a news conference at the Blaine House.
Efforts to amend the state’s Constitution require not only the support of two-thirds of the Legislature but the approval of Maine voters. LePage has said voters should be given the option of eliminating the income tax, which accounts for about half of all state revenue.
“If the Democrats are going to disenfranchise the Maine people, then the governor of Maine is going to make sure that every bill that comes down from the House and the Senate with a Democrat sponsor will be required to have a two-thirds vote, because I’m going to veto every one, and I did a bunch this morning,” LePage said.
Two-thirds support in both the House and Senate is needed to override a governor’s veto. So far, 205 bills have been sent by the Legislature for LePage, according to official legislative figures. Of those, LePage has vetoed 26.
The governor’s bill, LD 1637, was rejected by majority Democrats on the Taxation Committee on May 13. It has yet to come up for additional votes in the full Legislature. It could likely pass in the GOP-controlled Senate, but given Democrats’ questions about how to pay for such a monumental reduction in state revenue, it’s unlikely to garner enough support to pass in the House, which they control.
“The Republicans are on board, and the Democrats want to disenfranchise the Maine people. They don’t want them to have that vote,” LePage said. “Shame on them, and I see a [Democratic] leader here. Shame on you, for not letting the Maine people, the 1.3 million people in the state of Maine to have a say in the income tax.”
House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, was the “leader in the room” who earned LePage’s ire.
After the news conference, McCabe said the governor had come “unglued.”
https://bangordailynews.com/2015/05/29/politics/lepage-ill-veto-every-democratic-bill-until-legislature-agrees-to-kill-income-tax/
Unglued’ governor makes bold demand on taxes
06/01/15 10:40 AM
By Steve Benen
It’s generally not up to governors to dictate what state legislators will work on and when, but that doesn’t stop some governors from trying. Indeed, it occasionally even works – a couple of years ago, then-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) told her state’s legislature that she would veto everything it passed unless and until it approved Medicaid expansion
As the Bangor Daily News reported, Maine’s notorious Republican governor, Paul LePage, is launching a similar gambit in the Pine Tree State, though on a very different issue.
During a fiery news conference that lasted nearly an hour, Gov. Paul LePage pledged Friday to veto every bill sponsored by a Democrat until his opposition relents and accepts his constitutional amendment to eliminate Maine’s income tax.
LePage this year has proposed a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the state’s income tax by the year 2020. Republicans, who have shied away from the governor’s more comprehensive tax reform efforts, have rallied around the amendment. Democrats have opposed it, sparking LePage’s trademark fury during a news conference at the Blaine House.
The far-right governor, who won twice after the mainstream vote was split in three-way contests, is still willing to sign legislation sponsored by members of his party. It’s just Democrats whose bills he’s vowed to kill without regard for merit.
It’s worth noting that Maine’s state legislature is split – there’s a Democratic majority in the state House and a Republican majority in the state Senate.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/unglued-governor-makes-bold-demand-taxes
Can’t Businesses Just Pay Taxes?
by BooMan
Mon Jun 1st, 2015 at 10:27:51 AM EST
I’m going to do something a little out of my comfort zone and go back to that Politico piece on Bernie Sanders that I cited in my last piece. According to that reporting, one of the things that Sanders campaigned on in his first run for mayor of Burlington was opposition to raising residential property taxes. Instead, he wanted to get money out of commercial properties and well-to-do non-profits. In Burlington, the latter would be the University of Vermont and the hospital.
Sanders had campaigned against the incumbent mayor’s plans to raise residential property taxes, and proposed raising taxes on commercial property instead…
…Later in his tenure, Sanders went after the University of Vermont and a local hospital, non-profit institutions that owned large swathes of valuable land in the city but were exempt from paying taxes and cut deals for them for them to contribute “Payments in Lieu of Taxes.”
Sanders didn’t invent PILOTs in Burlington. That other people’s republic, Cambridge, Mass, had been receiving them from Harvard since the 1920s, as had other cities since. But he did anticipate an approach that’s become increasingly popular in the Northeast in recent decades as tax-exempt hospitals and universities have swallowed up more and more land and local governments have put the screws on them to pony up more money for city services.
I’ve never been thrilled with the PILOT way of doing business. Certainly, some kind of revenue is better than nothing, but there are principles that are compromised along the way. Take what’s happened in Chester, Pennsylvania. In order to lure a Major League Soccer team to their dilapidated waterfront, the city and Delaware County struck a deal with the ownership of the Philadelphia Union. The Union would make “payments in lieu of taxes.”
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2015/6/1/102751/3576
Monday, June 1, 2015
“There’s This Anti-Hillary Vote. It Just Isn’t Very Big.”
For Democrats who are hoping that an alternative to Hillary Clinton will emerge from Iowa, the results of the latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll of likely caucus-goers doesn’t bode well.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/06/theres-this-anti-hillary-vote-it-just.html?spref=tw
OH Good Lord. I forgot it was June 1st.
SC Decisions
https://twitter.com/SCOTUSblog/status/605376298052034561
https://twitter.com/ZeddRebel/status/605378535029665792
Monday, June 1, 2015
So Now What, Kentucky Fried Senators?
Posted by Zandar
This is a tale of my two senators, who have managed to put a huge hole in the PATRIOT Act.
The government’s authority to sweep up vast quantities of phone records in the hunt for terrorists expired at 12:01 a.m. Monday after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, blocked an extension of the program during an extraordinary and at times caustic Sunday session of the Senate.
Still, the Senate signaled that it was ready to curtail the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program with likely passage this week of legislation that would shift the storage of telephone records from the government to the phone companies. The House overwhelmingly passedthat bill last month. Senators voted, 77 to 17, on Sunday to take up the House bill.
Mr. Paul’s stand may have forced the temporary expiration of parts of the post-9/11 Patriot Act used by the National Security Agency to collect phone records, but he was helped by the miscalculation of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, who sent the Senate on a weeklong vacation after blocking the House bill before Memorial Day.
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Both of these men are irresponsible clowns, and the whole thing could have been avoided if the USA Freedom bill had been passed last month. Both McConnell and Paul concede that the USA Freedom act, which makes serious reforms to the NSA, backed by President Obama and both parties, was the way forward. Instead, ego, brinksmanship, and serious screw-ups left us with a self-inflicted wound to our intelligence capability that could have been avoided weeks ago.
Both of these men are an embarrassment to my state and my country, and as a constituent I’m furious. McConnell deserves a lot of blame here, but Rand Paul’s irresponsible rhetoric means he didn’t “win” this battle either, at one point saying that his fellow lawmakers secretly were hoping for a terrorist attack on US soil just so they could “blame” him for it.
http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2015/06/so-now-what-kentucky-fried-senators.html
Exclusive: Six powers agree way to restore U.N. sanctions in push for Iran deal – sources
World | Sun May 31, 2015 6:18pm EDT
Six world powers have agreed on a way to restore U.N. sanctions on Iran if the country breaks the terms of a future nuclear deal, clearing a major obstacle to an accord ahead of a June 30 deadline, Western officials told Reuters.
The new understanding on a U.N. sanctions “snapback” among the six powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – brings them closer to a possible deal with Iran, though other hurdles remain, including ensuring United Nations access to Iranian military sites.
The six powers and Iran struck an interim agreement on April 2 ahead of a possible final deal that would aim to block an Iranian path to a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting sanctions. But the timing of sanctions relief, access and verification of compliance and a mechanism for restoring sanctions if Iran broke its commitments were among the most difficult topics left for further negotiations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/31/us-iran-nuclear-idUSKBN0OG05220150531
LOL@Kentucky Fried Senators.
http://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/605387683398078464/photo/1
Sloane gone learn today. Congrats, Serena!
Cruz balks at questions on flooding, climate
06/01/15 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Storms in Texas last week caused deadly flooding, and conditions in some areas grew even worse over the weekend. NBC News has confirmed that at least 24 people have died in Texas in the floods, and the death toll climbs when victims in Oklahoma and Mexico are added to the tally.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), like many officials in the Lone Star State, has worked on securing federal disaster relief for the affected areas. What the far-right senator has not been willing to do, however, is answer questions about the environmental conditions that may be contributing to the floods themselves.
CNN reported the other day that Cruz finds himself “in a bind on climate change.”
The Republican presidential contender has held two press conferences over the past two days to address the flooding and the government’s response. At each one, he was asked about the impact of climate change on natural disasters like the Texas flooding, and at each one, he dodged the question.
“In a time of tragedy, I think it’s wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster – and so there’s plenty of time to talk about other issues,” he said in response to a question on his views on climate change during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
It’s a curious response. For one thing, it’s not entirely clear how Cruz defines “politicize” – to talk about environmental conditions contributing to an environmental disaster is “political”? Are we to believe references to science are inappropriate when Ted Cruz doesn’t like the data?
For another, Cruz’s rhetoric makes it sound as if he’d welcome a discussion about the climate crisis and its devastating, real-world effects – just not now. There’s “plenty of time” for this conversation, he said.
But the point is, Cruz has it backwards. As the crisis intensifies, and the disasters become more frequent and severe, there isn’t “plenty of time” for conversations that climate deniers always want to push away.
Over at ThinkProgress, Emily Atkin argued yesterday that “let’s not politicize this” carries with it a distinct “I’m not a scientist” vibe.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/cruz-balks-questions-flooding-climate
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Does Martin O’Malley Possess An Ounce Of Political Authenticity?
O’Malley gave a nice speech this morning, a progressive one crafted for the ears of progressive Democratic primary voters, a cohort he and Hillary and perhaps others will have speech writers and pollsters and consultants try to please with various messaging techniques. It’s different from Bernie Sanders.
When O’Malley asks the dramatic, poignant, burning question– “Tell me how it is, that not a single Wall Street CEO was convicted of a crime related to the 2008 economic meltdown. Not. A. Single One.”– a cynic might respond by holding up a mirror for O’Malley and the professional political class. O’Malley– like Clinton and Webb and others who may try to don some newly tailored populist garb– will never be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders isn’t crafting a progressive message for primary voters– that can be abandoned in the general or in the White House. Bernie Sanders’ entire life in the political arena created the agenda and the ideas that careerists like O’Malley are trying to tap into.
I’m not saying his message yesterday was bad. It was nice. It just doesn’t tell us much about who Martin O’Malley really is or what he would do as president. His own record in public service doesn’t lead in a natural way to that message– not the way Bernie’s did last week. O’Malley may be Catholic and Bernie may be a Jew, but if Pope Francis popped up at the rally for one, would it surprise you if it was Bernie’s? –
See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/05/does-martin-omalley-possess-ounce-of.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.I3PRQxZw.dpuf
see, running up against those that deal in facts and hard numbers…
trips up the GOP EVERY SINGLE TIME.
actuaries don’t deal in ‘dynamic scoring’. that’s now they get paid.
………………………………………….
Actuaries: GOP plans won’t prevent an ObamaCare meltdown
05/28/15 12:15 PM EDT
Republicans have spent months pitching ideas on how to limit the potential fallout from next month’s Supreme Court decision that could wipe out ObamaCare insurance subsidies in at least 34 states.
But so far, none of their proposals are likely to stave off the massive disruption of the healthcare marketplace that would result from a ruling against the Obama administration, according to a newreport by the American Academy of Actuaries.
The most popular idea backed by Republicans — eliminating the requirement for individuals to have health insurance — could cause the most damage, according to the group. The report warns that option would “threaten the viability” of the entire market.
If people are no longer required to buy insurance, and no are longer given tax credits to do so, they will likely leave the market in large numbers, the group says. As a result, premiums would skyrocket for those remaining in the market, who are likely to have existing health conditions.
The changes to the risk pool would be particularly costly for insurance companies because they cannot make mid-year adjustments to their rates if the court rules against the subsidies.
“That’s the big worry. That’s really the biggest worry for most us working in the field, the fact there’s no ability to reset things,” said the report’s author, Cathy Murphy-Barron, who has spent 25 years as a health policy actuary.
Another popular Republican plan — a temporary extension of premium subsidies — also drew criticism from the American Academy of Actuaries,
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/243316-actuary-group-gops-obamacare-plans-would-not-prevent-meltdown
Maryland’s O’Malley faces long road to Dems’ nomination
06/01/15 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Martin O’Malley has been laying the groundwork for a national campaign for quite a while, and over the weekend, the Maryland Democrat made it official over the weekend, announcing his presidential candidacy at an event in Baltimore.
O’Malley, a former two-term Baltimore mayor and former two-term Maryland governor, brings an impressive resume to the table, and as msnbc’s Steve Kornacki explained, he “checks off a lot of boxes for Democrats.”
MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY, 5/30/15, 10:37 AM ET
Martin O’Malley announces presidential bid
His gubernatorial record includes the enactment of a state-level Dream Act, strict gun control, gay marriage, and the abolition of the death penalty. So he can – and does – brag that he’s delivered on the party’s agenda in a way that no other would-be Obama successor (or, for that matter, Obama himself) has.
He’s also touting a populist economic message that’s very much in sync with the liberal grassroots: hiking the minimum wage, reinstating Glass-Steagall and expanding Social Security.
Indeed, in O’Malley’s kickoff speech, there were was little doubt that he hoped to connect with the “Draft Elizabeth Warren” crowd, calling out Goldman Sachs by name, and blasting Wall Street for its role in the 2008 crash. “Tell me how it is that you can get pulled over for a broken tail light in our country, but if you wreck the nation’s economy you are untouchable,” O’Malley said.
But despite all of this, O’Malley faces extremely long odds, and enters the race with support among Democrats at the national level around 2%. It’s worth appreciating why.
Part of the problem is simply the inherent challenge facing any ambitious Democrat in this cycle: Hillary Clinton is a unique political force who enjoys an overwhelming advantage in her party.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/marylands-omalley-faces-long-road-dems-nomination
I’m not fond of Martin O’ Malley at this point, but the Democratic Party needs DEMOCRATS to get in this race, run a campaign and challenge Hillary.
“Hillary Clinton is a unique political force who enjoys an overwhelming advantage in her party.’
They said this about Hillary in 2008, ALSO TOO. And…..
Good morning, Chicas!
I received some bad news last night. My sweet sister in law passed away. We loved her from the moment my brother introduced us. My heart is broken.
Prayers to you, SG2 and your family.
I am so sorry to hear of her passing. I pray that you, your brother and all of her loved ones will experience the Lord’s comforting Presence.
May she rest in peace and God’s Love.
I am so sorry, SG2.
My condolences to you and your family, SG2.
SG2, soothe your sadness. Sending prayers and condolences to you and your family.
Oh, God bless her SG!! I remember you shared with us when she was diagnosed. May she rest in perfect peace. And may God bless you and you and your entire family and give you comfort at this very difficult time.
Thank you everyone for your love, thoughts, prayers and phone calls. Your kindness means so much to me. It helps to heal my broken heart. Funeral arrangements are being made today. Pray for the children. It’s going to be a rough day for them.
Arizona’s GOP Senators Play Dirty, Sell Apache Holy Site To Foreign Mining Company (VIDEO)
May 29, 2015Deborah Montesano Politics
An ancient and beautiful Apache holy site is about to be handed off to a foreign mining company, thanks to Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake. What will be left behind, when the company is through, is a caved-in pit, 1,000 feet deep and two-miles wide.
For years, Resolution Copper Mining LLC has salivated over Oak Flat because of the deposits of copper and other ores that lie underground. However, President Dwight Eisenhower declared Oak Flat a protected area in 1955, which has kept the mining threat at bay. Multiple proposals to sell Oak Flat have died in Congress over the last 10 years.
Resolution Copper Mining is a joint endeavor by two foreign mining companies — the U.K.’s Rio Tinto, and Australia’s BHP-Billiton. The two are the largest mining companies in the world — and John McCain just happens to be Congress’ largest recipient of campaign contributions from Rio Tinto. Jeff Flake’s piece of the puzzle? He was once a paid lobbyist for Rio Tinto. Is anyone surprised by these revelations?
Sens. McCain and Flake did what Republican senators do best: they made a dirty end-run around the opposition. In December, they slipped a provision putting Oak Flat up for sale into the hundreds of pages of legislation that made up the Defense Authorization Act, a law funding the military whose passage was considered crucial. As a last-minute rider, the deal escaped public scrutiny — a common maneuver amongst corrupt politicians.
http://reverbpress.com/politics/arizonas-gop-senators-play-dirty-sell-apache-holy-site-foreign-mining-company-video/
No, muthaphucka. YOU are a molester
……………………
Dennis Hastert To Friends: I Am A Victim, Too
CHICAGO (CBS) — Victim.
That is the word former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is using to describe himself, one day after he was indicted on charges that he illegally attempted to conceal bank withdrawals. That cash used to pay hush money to a former student–a male who was sexually abused by Hastert when he was a high school teacher and coach, according to federal sources.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, Hastert was neither seen or heard from publicly on Friday, but he has told close friends that he was sorry people had to go though this ordeal.
“I am a victim, too,” Hastert told them.
Hastert’s first words to associates were in response to charges of illegally withdrawing money to pay $3.5 million in hush money to a man to compensate and conceal prior misconduct. Hastert had actually paid the man $1.7 million, according to the indictment.
Published reports say that misconduct involves an abusive sexual encounter, which happened sometime before Hastert entered politics in the early 1980s.
According to the federal indictment, Hastert and the individual agreed to the payments in 2010.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/05/29/dennis-hastert-to-friends-i-am-a-victim-too/
Hastert: ‘I’m a victim too’ = I’VE BEEN CAUGHT!
Rauner fails to see he’s a ‘special interest’ too
Posted: 05/01/2015, 06:24pm | Carol Marin
“No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.” — James Madison, 1797, Federalist No. 10
Gov. Bruce Rauner is quick to judge those who disagree with him as “special interests.”
And to declare everything from the leadership of public sector unions to the Illinois Supreme Court as part of “a corrupt system.” It’s as though he, a wildly successful businessman, has never been a player in the systems of government which live hand in hand with the world of high finance.
Rauner talks gunslinger talk. Jut-jawed, quick-draw, cowboy bravado.
Special interests?
Rauner, former chairman of GTCR, made his hundreds of millions, if not billions, in private equity. A world that hires legions of lawyers and lobbyists to advance its interests and, when necessary, crush its opponents by means of friends in Congress and local legislatures. All oiled by campaign contributions, fishing trips and elegant dinners in mahogany rooms with cigars and excellent wine.
Special interests.
The governor has a deeply held belief in an education system focusing on the development of charter schools that compete rather than complement neighborhood public schools. Many of those charter networks are part of the corporate world he prefers. And they exclude, wherever possible, the union world he disdains.
Special interests.
“Part of the creation of Bruce Rauner,” argues Mike Gecan, “is the Machine trying to judge its own cause.” In other words, the forces of Speaker Mike Madigan and his Democratic super-majority in Springfield failed to see how they set up the backlash that brought in Rauner.
Gecan, co-director of the Industrial Areas Foundation — a network of more than 60 citizens power organizations in the US, UK, Germany, Australia and Canada, has written extensively about the divisive forces that are paralyzing urban America.
“This is a death spiral if one machine does its thing versus a market guy who does his thing. And there’s no appreciation for multiple entities in society,” he said on Friday.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/carol-marin-opinion/7/71/569893/rauners-fails-see-hes-special-interest
Embattled CPS CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett resigns in wake of federal probe
Posted: 05/31/2015, 10:42am |
Lauren Fitzpatrick
Embattled Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has resigned in the wake of the federal probe of a $20.5 million no-bid contract CPS handed her former employer, the mayor’s office announced Sunday night.
Byrd-Bennett went on paid leave in mid-April, days after federal investigators sent subpoenas to CPS seeking records about her, top aides she brought to Chicago and three companies owned by her former employers, Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas.
Appointed to the city’s top schools job by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the wake of a historic 2012 teachers’ strike, Byrd-Bennett was once employed by two of Solomon and Vranas’ firms, SUPES and Synesi. Had she not resigned, her contract with CPS would have allowed her to remain CPS’s $250,000-a-year CEO through June 30, 2016.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/651364/embattled-cps-ceo-barbara-byrd-bennett-resigns-wake-federal-probe
Key Patriot Act provisions expire … for now
06/01/15 08:00 AM—UPDATED 06/01/15 08:07 AM
By Steve Benen
There was some rare Sunday-night drama on the Senate floor, and as msnbc’s M. Alex Johnson reported over night, at least for now, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has the outcome he wanted.
The National Security Agency’s authority to collect troves of bulk telephone metadata under the post-Sept. 11 USA Patriot Act expired at midnight Monday after Republican senators were unable to make a deal.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sought a two-week extension Sunday of two less controversial provisions of the Patriot Act, but that effort was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, his fellow Kentucky Republican who is running for president partly on his strong objections to the surveillance programs.
This admittedly gets a little messy. There’s a bipartisan House bill – the so-called “U.S.A. Freedom Act” – which Senate Republicans blocked last week, largely because McConnell had an alternative plan that would have simply extended the status quo.
But McConnell’s strategy failed miserably. By the time Senate Republican decided the House bill wasn’t so bad after all, there wasn’t time to pass it before last night’s deadline – at least not without Rand Paul’s cooperation, which he wasn’t prepared to offer.
It’s worth clarifying a couple of things. For example, Paul said he was targeting surveillance programs started by President Obama, which is plainly untrue – at issue are measures put in place by the Bush/Cheney administration, and supported for years by Paul’s party. The Kentucky Republican also suggested over the weekend that the entirety of the Patriot Act was on the line, and that’s not quite right, either.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/key-patriot-act-provisions-expire-now
Rand Paul is COUNTING on COLLECTING at that $$$ from the MONEY BOMBS he’s solicited for his latest theatrical performance.
Direction West will have a sibling to hold onto through the insanity.
……………………
Kim Kardashian Is Pregnant! Reality Star Expecting Second Child With Kanye West
North West is about to become a big sister!
Kim Kardashian revealed that she’s expecting her second child with Kanye West in the supertease following tonight’s mid-season finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
The clip shows Kim hearing the exciting news during a doctor’s appointment shortly before spilling the beans to Khloé Kardashian.
“I just got the blood test back, and I am pregnant!” Kim—who’s beaming ear-to-ear—exclaims to her stunned sister.
The brunette bombshell has made no secret of the fact that she’s been eager to grow her family of three despite her difficult first pregnancy, and she’s documented how hard it’s been to get pregnant again on the E! reality series.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/kim-kardashian-is-pregnant-reality-star-expecting-second-child-with-kanye-west/ar-BBksXln?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=HPCDHP
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Mornin’ Rik. did you watch ‘Nightinggale with David O.?
I did, and he was amazing.
eliihass where are you?
Ametia, you’re naughty…
I will hold my comments for a later time…There’s so much to say..
“You’re not going to see me turn white in the White House.” The irony is she’s showing her TRUE COLORS’ right now, and has been since she ran for POTUS in 2008.
And shrinking from a fight, that bitch held on until members of her party had to literally drag her ass on the podium to concede to Barack Obama.
She just can’t help herself Ametia…Even with her campaign practically keeping her caged and choreographing her every movement, affected and contrived word, and carefully placed and reluctant mention of some agreement with President Obama on some important policy/accomplishment of his she trying to co-opt, she still can’t help showing her unbelievable arrogance and overblown sense of entitlement.
You can tell that she actually thinks she’s already won and just has to go through with some measure of this inconvenient occasional milling around with a few hand-picked common folk…
And she has one of those RENT–A–NEGROES standing behind her
Lol…
Look again Ametia, There are 2 more to the side of the one prominently positioned behind her…The one who does an obligatory half-laugh when miss Ann talks about how she’s been dying her hair forever..
Good Morning, Chics and Chicettes! A belated thank you to rikyrah for her response to my query about Turn: Washington Spies. I love hidden stories about history. I’m declaring this day the beginning of my new year and a change in attitude towards myself. I wish you all a great day.
Good Morning, Kathleen & Everyone.
Kathleen, I’ll hold the vision with you and your new change in attitue towards you.
Thank you, Ametia! I appreciate that very much.