Sunday Open Thread

Posted on June 21, 2015 by rikyrah

Good Morning. Hope you’re enjoying this weekend with family and friends.
Happy Father’s Day to all men holding it down. We luv you.

This entry was posted in Gospel, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

34 Responses to Sunday Open Thread

  1. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    Gus ‏@Gus_802 31m31 minutes ago
    Far-right flocks to Russia to berate the West http://on.wsj.com/18RjUWn via @WSJ Includes CCC Spokesman Jared Taylor.

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    Media Alert!!

    I missed this, but it will repeat at 2am EST

    If you have Oprah’s channel called OWN, a feature on President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper is about to air. It is called Rise: The Promise of My Brother’s Keeper.

    Airing today at 7PM EST/6PM CST.

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    Why U.S. Latinos Need To Get Loud About The Dominican Republic
    Antiblackness runs deep in the Latino community. We can’t afford to let it go unnoticed.

    posted on Jun. 18, 2015, at 5:36 p.m.
    Daniel José Older
    BuzzFeed Contributor

    As the Dominican Republic begins what has been called a “vicious, slow-motion pogrom” on black Dominicans and Dominicans of Haitian descent — stripping them of their citizenship and rounding them up for deportation en masse — I think of writer Gloria Anzaldúa’s words about living in the shadow of a border that crosses identities and shatters lives: “you are the battleground / where enemies are kin to each other; / you are at home, a stranger.”

    These are still days of conceptual lines that become political lines, which are then militarized: the lines across which battles of life and death play out, now in slow motion, suddenly faster than a bullet. These lines crisscross our geographies and identities; they are both porous and razor-sharp, always unforgiving.

    The Dominican government’s fear of blackness dates back to its Spanish colonizers and became a matter of policy under the dictator Rafael Trujillo, who murdered tens of thousands of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic in 1937 and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Anti-Haitian sentiment became a rallying cry for some Dominican nationalists, a way to distinguish the supposedly more “European” Dominicans from their Haitian neighbors. That prejudice survived Trujillo’s genocide, however, and is now manifesting in the revocation of citizenship from anyone deemed by the state to be of Haitian ancestry, which translates to anyone viewed as black. As mass detention centers are set up, antiblack mob violence has been on the rise, including beatings, burnings, and lynchings. And since history does indeed rhyme, we must see these actions for what they have always historically been: the run-up to a massacre.

    As I write, government buses are taking to the streets of Santo Domingo to detain and deport black Dominicans. With 1.5 million residents in the U.S., Dominicans make up the fifth largest Latino population in the country and the largest immigrant group in New York state. But some Latino news sites were slower even than mainstream outlets to acknowledge the ongoing crisis facing hundreds of thousands of Dominicans. And while a few Latino writers have spoken out (notably Junot Díaz and Julia Alvarez), Latino celebrities have for the most part remained entirely silent.

    Sadly, we can’t be surprised by this silence. Antiblackness has run deep in the Latino community as long as there’s been a Latino community. Much like the wider American mythology of a glorious melting pot, we love waxing faux-etic about the multilayered fabric of our identity: We are a tapestry; we are a taco, a mofongo, a paella — so many flavors! In truth, we are a shattered family, a house deeply divided by white supremacy and colorism. It’s as true in Latin America — yes, even Cuba — as it is in the United States.

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/danieljoseolder/us-latinos-need-to-get-loud-about-the-dominican-republic#.xvWMPjozJB

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    Sunday, June 21, 2015
    Reclaiming the Turf
    I’m growing increasingly weary of political analysis like this from Dana Milbank. He takes a look at some recent polling that suggests more people are identifying themselves as liberal and prefers this explanation.
    A third theory, which I find compelling, is that the rise in liberalism is a backlash against the over-the-top conservatism displayed by the tea party movement. The Pew Research Center and others have documented a dramatic increase in ideological polarization within political parties over two decades. The Republican Party has long been dominated by conservatives, and the recent rise in liberalism among Democrats may be a mirror image of that — the beginnings of a tea party of the left.
    A “tea party of the left?” Oh puhleeze!

    Let’s spend just a moment recapping some history. First of all, with the routing that Ronald Reagan gave Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, a lot of Democrats decided that it was time to moderate and play some ball on Republican turf. That gave us things like “the era of big government is over,” signing on to the need to reform welfare, and a big push to “get tough on crime.” The overall conversation felt – to many of us on the left – like it was being based on Republican terms.

    And then came eight years of Bush/Cheney. As I wrote previously, by the end of their term it was clear that Republican policies had us mired in two wars in the Middle East, careening towards a second Great Depression, and a federal deficit that was ballooning out of control. At that point, smart pundits knew that the real 2008 presidential election was the one that happened in the Democratic primary. Whoever won that one was likely to be our next POTUS because – no matter how loudly the right wing screamed – the majority of Americans were done with Republican policies.

    It was in that scenario that the tea party was born – stoked by the racist fears of this country having elected our first African American president. As just one example of how radical these folks are, let’s remember that they are the ones who wanted to blow up the entire global economy rather than raise the U.S. debt ceiling. That their “establishment” accomplices were willing to take us to that brink on a couple of occasions tells us all we need to know about how radicalized the Republicans have become.

    Now we have had six and a half years of a Democratic President who ended those two wars, has presided over the longest expansion of private sector job growth in our history and provided millions of Americans with access to health care. The candidate most likely to be his successor is running on such “radical” notions as raising the minimum wage to keep up with inflation, investing in infrastructure, addressing climate change, immigration reform, criminal justice reform and expanded educational opportunities.

    In other words, Democrats are reclaiming the turf. That means having the conversation on our own terms and running on issues that have traditionally been the staple of a Democratic agenda. That they also happens to align with the views of a majority of voters in this country means that it is the opposite of tea party extremism. The mirror Mr. Milbank sees is the one Democrats are holding up to reflect the views of the people they’re running to represent.

    http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/06/reclaiming-turf.html?spref=tw

    Reply
  14. racerrodig says:
    June 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    Happy Fathers Day from our family to all you you.

    It’s hard sometimes to be a parent, but to me, it’s all worth it.

    I played at a Church on Fri with a new band and my just turned 17 year old son stands on the same stage playing lead guitar. How cool is that………….Yep…….all that effort is well worth it just to look over and see him, playing Christian music…….then hearing him say “….hey dad…..”

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 11:19 am

    By REENA FLORES
    CBS NEWS
    June 21, 2015, 9:37 AM
    President Obama on First Fatherhood, high heels, and the family’s “rock

    Before he was president, Barack Obama worried about balancing the pressures of work with the demands of his family. But contrary to his expectations, the president says, moving into the White House allowed him to become “a better father.”

    “People often ask me whether being President has made it more difficult to spend time with Michelle and our girls,” Mr. Obama writes in a MORE magazine column, in an issue guest-edited by First Lady Michelle Obama. “But the surprising truth is that being in the White House has made our family life more ‘normal’ than it’s ever been.”

    “Normal” for the Obama family, up until the move into the Oval Office, was a juggling act. In his editorial, the president details his hectic schedule after their eldest daughter, Malia, was born: he continued to teach at the University of Chicago’s law school and also commuted to the state capitol in Springfield to serve on the Illinois state legislature. Michelle, meanwhile, also returned to work part-time. And with their accumulated student debt adding to the financial burden, the Obamas struggled to count “every penny to manage” household bills, according to the president.

    “The combined pressures sometimes put a real strain on our marriage, as they do for many working parents with young kids,” Mr. Obama wrote.

    And though the president considered himself “a pretty enlightened guy,” after their second daughter, Sasha was born, the burdens of family life “disproportionately–and unfairly–fell on Michelle, as happens to many women.”

    Despite the help of Marian Robinson, the mother of the first lady, in raising the children, “Michelle was understandably stressed and frustrated,” Mr. Obama wrote. “[A]nd I suspect she felt a little like a single mom sometimes.”

    The transition into the White House turned out to be a boon to the president’s home life: according to Mr. Obama, “it’s not always easy being a father of teenage girls. But it is pretty good to live above the store.”

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-obama-first-fatherhood-high-heels-rock-obama-family/

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 11:01 am

    get that tissue

    Happy Father’s Day.

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 11:00 am

    Intimate and compassionate, the photographs from Zun Lee’s “Father Figure: Exploring Alternate Notions of Black Fatherhood” fight the stereotype of the absent black father, despite Lee having learned of his own biological father — a black man — who left his mother while she was pregnant with Lee. Instead Lee, after years of navigating the road to forgiveness, decided to explore black fatherhood and hold a mirror up to the complexities of fatherhood.

    Over the course of several years Lee built relationships with several fathers with the mission to not depict any one side of black fatherhood, but to explore its quiet moments, and how its nuances exists despite a collective perception. And ahead of Father’s Day, June 21, he sat down with In Sight to speak about his groundbreaking work.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2015/06/19/intimate-portraits-explore-the-nuance-complexity-and-heart-of-black-fatherhood/?postshare=2141434724247667

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 10:57 am

    h/t POU:

    Enjoy the following videos from Fathers Incorporated and Brathwaite Publishing: 30 Days of Dynamic Dads

    https://youtu.be/DGBYVvcWryM

    https://youtu.be/6gCe_mYd07I

    https://youtu.be/o5Cj5efUVEc

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 10:50 am

    there are so many reason why I LOVE these pics..look at the multi-generational swag.

    https://twitter.com/kardiakarrester/status/612551069844045824/photo/1

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 10:47 am

    Jemele Hill ✔ @jemelehill
    If your Dad decides to grill today in his favorite silk short set and church shoes while singing Bobby Blue Bland, let him #HappyFathersDay

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 21, 2015 at 6:16 pm

      BWA HA HA HA C’mon now, ya’ll don’t even pretend at least some uncles in the family dressed like this. I know I had a few, not my dad though.

      Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 10:44 am

    One of my favorite ads!

    https://youtu.be/lNKiExT-A3I

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    June 21, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Good Morning Everyone

    Reply

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