We are back to finish up with the Top 10 Billboard Singles from the 1980’s.
Today – 1985
Position Artist Song Title
1 Wham! Careless Whisper
2 Madonna Like A Virgin
3 Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
4 Foreigner I Want To Know What Love Is
5 Chaka Khan I Feel For You
6 Daryl Hall and John Oates Out Of Touch
7 Tears For Fears Everybody Wants To Rule The World
8 Dire Straits Money For Nothing
9 Madonna Crazy For You
10 a-ha Take On Me
So Jeb did an interview on Telemundo all in Spanish……hmmmmm
SPLC @splcenter 4h4 hours ago
Watch newly released video of Martin Luther King Jr.’s arrest at a Selma march
http://t.co/l15nOxmU8r
https://youtu.be/RFeHCG8e5J8&rel=0
“Mayor of Selma Joe Smitherman giving press conference SOUNDBITE: English Smitherton says King’s name wrong instead saying a racial slur at timestamp 3:24 before correcting himself and talks about the recent protests in Selma before describing himself as a segregationist.”
For some reason, I’m completely unable to get into this Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as our biggest problems…or even as problems…
At the time I felt Trump was a cancer and raged against him a couple of years ago, most of the media and political and society hierarchy including the Clintons, continued to praise, celebrate and romp around with him instead – and black celebrities like Arsenio Hall, Star Jones etc. all sucked up to him and indulged him too…
Bernie Sanders, I continue to find pretty harmless – in spite of the many supposed transgressions of his that we as black people specifically are supposed to get mad about, as detailed by people with a specific pro-Hillary agenda who are consumed with pointing out and pushing hard to sideline him and his campaign for fear it might actually cause more than a dent to, or heaven forbid take attention off of and even potentially derail the seamless plans of those charged with ensuring Hillary’s impending coronation …
I actually view both Trump and Sanders – for different reasons of course, as convenient distractions rather than the sudden exaggerated relevant personalities they supposedly are…
Trump and Sanders are the very least of our problems – believe me.
Obama Brilliantly Throws Lit Firecrackers into GOP Presidential Chaos
Spandan Chakrabarti July 27, 2015
President Obama responded to Republican fit over the Iran nuclear deal from Ethiopia, namechecking GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee – who said the Iran deal was tantamount walking Israel to “the door of the oven”, a reference to mass cremation chambers in Nazi internment camps – and Donald Trump, who remains atop the Republican field despite his insult of POWs.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2015/7/27/obama-brilliantly-throws-firecrackers-into-gop-presidential-chaos
#BernieSoBlack: Sanders Cheerleaders Make Weak Case on Bernie and Race
Spandan Chakrabarti July 23, 2015
Facing scathing criticism and a weekend of adulation gone wrong when Bernie Sanders was caught flat footed by Black Lives Matter protesters in Phoenix, his defenders across the Internet’s Left flank – armchair activists who think they own the Democratic party – needed something of a comeback. Many found deliverance when Alternet published this article with bright eyes and bushy tails: 20 Examples of Bernie Sanders’ Powerful Record on Civil and Human Rights Since the 1950s.
Problem is, Zaid Jilani of Alternet – and by the looks of this article’s popularity among the Netroots-type crowd, they – manage to ignore the specific demands of the Black Lives Matter movement through all 20 of the examples. The demand, and the fierce urgency of addressing the issue of domestic, internal racism that is costing the lives of black Americans today at the hands of institutionalized and personal – and American – racism is left out entirely. There is absolutely no recognition that the existential threat to black lives exist on a plane beyond civil and political rights.
But, let’s go through them one by one. We start all the way back when Bernie was running for president – of his high school class.
……………………..
But hey, we all know what you need to do to pacify people who are demanding attention to a literally existential crisis. You patronizingly throw some polling at them and it’s all good. Especially if the people seeking that attention are, you know, black.
Nobody is demanding Bernie stop talking about the economy. What people are demanding – what Black Lives Matter is demanding, is focus on an equal footing, and end of the pretension that addressing economic disparity for minorities will end or even affect structural racism and institutional violence.
Nobody thinks equal pay for women is the answer to the mortifying amount of sexual assault. Why do people believe that economic parity is the answer to institutionalized racist violence?
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2015/7/21/berniesoblack-20-examples-how-not-to-address-threat-to-black-lives
Boy Scouts End Nationwide Ban on Gay Leaders
By ERIK ECKHOLM
JULY 27, 2015
Seeking to resolve an issue that threatened to tear apart the organization and expose it to crippling lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America on Monday ended its nationwide ban on openly gay adult leaders.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation will also be barred in all Boy Scout offices and for all paid jobs — a step that could head off looming lawsuits in New York, Colorado and other states that prohibit such discrimination in employment.
One legal threat was immediately averted. In response to the change, the New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, announced on Monday that his office was ending its investigation of the Scouts for violating state anti-discrimination laws.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/us/boy-scouts-end-nationwide-ban-on-gay-leaders.html?module=Notification&version=BreakingNews®ion=FixedTop&action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=38167036&pgtype=Blogs
The Donald and the Delusional
JULY 27, 2015 2:03 PM
Nate Cohn cautions us not to make too much of the polls supposedly showing the Trump surge continuing, as many — but not all – were taken before the McCain affair. Fair point. But there’s enough genuine post-McCain polling to show that Trump hasn’t imploded, the way virtually every pundit predicted he would.
I’m actually mad at myself here: I had meant to put up a post questioning that conventional wisdom, but never got around to it, and now you only have my word that what I’m about to say isn’t just hindsight, but a prediction. Oh well. Anyway, on to the point.
What I would argue is key to this situation — and, in particular, key to understanding how the conventional wisdom on Trump/McCain went so wrong — is the reality that a lot of people are, in effect, members of a delusional cult that is impervious to logic and evidence, and has lost touch with reality.
I am, of course, talking about pundits who prize themselves for their centrism.
Pundit centrism in modern America is a strange thing. It’s not about policy, as you can see from the many occasions when members of the cult have demanded that Barack Obama change his ways and advocate things that … he was already advocating. What defines the cult is, instead, the insistence that the parties are symmetric, that they are equally extreme, and that the responsible, virtuous position is always somewhere in between.
The trouble is that this isn’t remotely true. Democrats constitute a normal political party, with some spread between its left and right wings, but in general espousing moderate positions. The GOP, on the other hand, is a deeply radical faction; even its supposed moderates are moderate only in tone, not in policy positions, and its base is motivated by anger against Others.
What this means, in turn, is that to sustain their self-image centrists must misrepresent reality.
On one side, they can’t admit the moderation of the Democrats, which is why you had the spectacle of demands that Obama change course and support his own policies.
On the other side, they have had to invent an imaginary GOP that bears little resemblance to the real thing. This means being continually surprised by the radicalism of the base. It also means a determination to see various Republicans as Serious, Honest Conservatives — SHCs? — whom the centrists know, just know, have to exist.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/the-donald-and-the-delusional/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0
https://twitter.com/joey_toledo/status/625661661777674240
this is HUGE!!
HUGE!!
………………………
Obama poised to give financial aid to federal, state prisoners
The move, which could come as soon as this week, would end a 20-year ban on offering Pell grants to state and federal prisoners.
7/27/15 4:30 PM EDT
More prisoners may soon have access to federal subsidies to pay for college under a new Obama administration initiative, ending a 20-year ban on Pell grants for state and federal prisoners.
The move could come as soon as this week. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are scheduled to visit Goucher College’s Prison Education Partnership at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup on Friday, to make “an important announcement related to federal aid.”
On Monday, Duncan said that restoring Pell eligibility for those potential students is one way his agency hopes to increase college affordability.
“We’ll have more information soon,” Duncan said.
His agency could circumvent the federal ban, doing an end-run around Congress, through its experimental sites program, which gives some colleges limited exemptions to federal financial aid rules.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/barack-obama-financial-aid-college-federal-state-prisoners-pell-grant-120680.html#ixzz3h7vhL38N
https://twitter.com/HahuDaily/status/625758552041332736
Outside attorneys to aid Sandra Bland death probe: prosecutor
Reuters 2 hrs ago
CHICAGO – The county prosecutor investigating the death of a black woman at a Texas jail days after her arrest during a traffic stop said on Monday outside attorneys will help with the probe, which likely will go to a county grand jury in August.
Sandra Bland, 28, was found hanged in a Waller County Jail cell days after her July 10 arrest following a minor traffic offense, an incident activists have said is yet another example of police brutality toward minorities.
“There are many lingering questions regarding the death of Sandra Bland,” Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis told a news conference.
Lewis White, a former prosecutor and a defense attorney, and Houston attorney Darrell Jordan will lead a review committee in asking the “hard questions,” Mathis said.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/outside-attorneys-to-aid-sandra-bland-death-probe-prosecutor/ar-AAdyI3E
a gif
http://i.imgur.com/JKr5cUK.gif
simply beautiful
By artist Colins Okello
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CK2f1r5WgAAr5_K.jpg
Eliihass, look at this. *cries*
No respect SG! No sensitivity, no consideration for her, her family, her loved ones…
This tells you just how little this young woman’s life meant to these people…How little her life mattered as far as these people are concerned.
You know, I’ve searched long and hard for anything at all from all those loud women’s rights and anti-misogyny purveyors, but nothing..
You know something, anything from the likes of the loud reporters like Rachel Nichols of CNN and Michelle Beadle of ESPN who went after Floyd Mayweather for being abusive to the generic, faceless mother of his kids who somehow was never fully acknowledged by these reporters even as they used her story to propel themselves…
Where’s the outrage over the unjust and dehumanizing apprehension and subsequent murder of Sandra Bland from the same loud voices that insist Bill Cosby is a monster for allegedly drugging and having his way with women who willingly hung out with him alone in his hotel room and at the Playboy mansion…
Where’s the voice of the likes of Gloria Steinem – and when does Gloria Allred jet off to Texas to demand justice for Sandra Bland..?
The idea of who’s a victim deserving of justice, and to be forcefully defended and fought for continues to play out before us;
And what amounts to important fights by loud feminists – and when feminism kicks in, is presented for your consideration;
You’d think that Sandra Bland met all the qualifications of feminist: strong, confident, smart, spoke up for her rights.
But not a peep after she’s jailed and Murdered for a traffic infraction that really wasn’t.
(((APPLAUSE)))
Eli, you have moved me to tears as you write on the wretched state of the “system” (and those in positions of “speaking-out power”) that decides
Important voices are absent when it comes to Sandra.
Bless you, Eli, for using your writing talent for Sandra and good causes!
*Hugs*
Thank you Yatzee; I love and admire your spirit filled with love and caring…
Again, Cosby’s MEDIA take down is a distraction. We’re not supposed to keep talking about BLACK LIVES MATTER, while they continue to televise that they DON;T GIVING A FLYING FUCK about BLACK LIVES.
We know where these folks allegiance lie, and it’s not with BLACK WOMEN. That Gloria Alred’s not going to make any money off a murdered Sandra Bland
Ametia, there’s something rather mind-blowing about the disproportionate outrage over Cosby and the cautious pussy-footing about – if even that – over the murder of Sandra Bland…
You are right, Ametia!
Sandra was onto this and had joined the BlackLivesMatter movement.
Look what Deray just posted two hours ago:
deray mckesson @deray 2h2 hours ago
“I can’t stop thinking about #SandraBland because I feel like I’ve been protesting next to women w/ her same spirit for a year now.
deray mckesson @deray 2h2 hours ago
“When I watched the #SandraBland dashcam video, I heard @Nettaaaaaaaa, @MsPackyetti, & @yoauntielikeit in her voice. That haunts me, y’all.”
Thank you so much for your kind words, Elli.
Can we please make sure that focus stays on justice for Sandra Bland..
Noticed that she’s been completely taken off the news today, and instead we have cover stories and extended focus on Cosby, Gloria Allred and the women.
I still think the actual dehumanization and murder of innocent black women trumps accusations of sexual shenanigans by a married celebrity with women some of whom had questionable relationships with him, and some of whom took money from him and some of whom returned to his hotel room alone with him again and again…
See..I’d be in jail for beating somebody’s azz
…………..
VIDEO: White People With Confederate Flags Crash Black Child’s Birthday Party
BySara JerdePublishedJuly 27, 2015, 3:30 PM EDT
A group of white passengers in trucks with waving Confederate flags reportedly interrupted a black child’s birthday party in Douglasville, Georgia on Saturday, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
A woman shared videos on Facebook that shows seven trucks leaving her property, where they were parked. The birthday party was taking place at a residence near the field of the woman who shared the video, according to The Atlanta Constitution.
The woman who shared the video told The Atlanta Journal Constitution that the passengers of the trucks were armed and threatened to, “kill y’all (N-words).”
“This is a child’s birthday party,” a woman said in the video, which showed police ushering the trucks away from the area.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/confederate-flags-birthday-party-georgia?utm_content=buffer4c121&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
These MOFOs, right here. I wish these fuckers would roll up on my family.
Never gave yoga much thought…but him as a teachers…..hmmmm
……………………..
FEATURE: Derrick “DJ” Townsel, The Professional Football Player Turned Yoga Teacher
Posted by Robust on July 27, 2015 at 8:00am
By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor
Meet Derrick “DJ” Townsel, the “RastaYogi” who (with his amazing photos and videos) has become one of the most popular yoga practitioners on Instagram – inspiring many, particularly men and people of color, to take up yoga and embrace healthier lifestyles. Townsel, a former professional footballer who played for the Houston Texans, began yoga as a way to make stretching a part of his workout regimen and is now a yoga teacher helping others to improve their physical and spiritual balance. He tells us: “I chose yoga as a physical discipline to prevent injuries as an athlete then fell in love with the spiritual and mental benefits that it offers. I get to truly enjoy each moment, each day since I’ve begun practicing yoga. Not letting the past hinder me, not letting the future make me anxious. As an instructor, I can share a piece of this experience to everyone I encounter. Shining this light of peace, love, and unity within one’s self and others to the world.” See him in action below!
http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-derrick-dj-townsel-the-professional-football-player
Kareem Abdul Jabbar took up yoga in the 70’s when it was still considered “woo woo” by most people, much less male athletes. He said it added years to his career.
Ted Cruz vs. the Senate
by BooMan
Mon Jul 27th, 2015 at 11:09:27 AM EST
What happened in the U.S. Senate yesterday was fascinating, but the nitty-gritty details of how it came about are probably less so. As Politico has it, when Sen. Ted Cruz “came to the floor looking for 16 senators to agree to hold a roll-call vote, only three raised their hands.” This is a reference to a rule on the yeas and nays.
Screen Shot 2015-07-27 at 10.15.54 AM
If sixteen equaled “one-fifth of a quorum,” that means that only 80 senators were present when Cruz made his request. But this isn’t significant. What matters is that the Senate typically approves these kind of requests without any debate or controversy. So much so, actually, that the request is a formality, almost like seeking recognition to speak from the chair.
Don’t believe me? Then ask Ted Cruz:
Cruz, his voice rising, tore into [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell just off the Senate floor.
“Granting a sufficient second for a roll-call vote is done customarily in the United States Senate,” Cruz told reporters. “Denying it is extraordinary, and it was done as a consequence of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell being afraid of this issue.”
He accused McConnell of scheming with Democratic leader Harry Reid.
“To see the so-called Republican leader whip against allowing a vote to defund Planned Parenthood … makes clear that the McConnell-Reid leadership is united in favor of Big Government,” Cruz charged.
Explaining what happened is not an easy job. For starters, the Senate also refused to hold a vote on Sen. Mike Lee’s non-germane amendment, and that was the Planned Parenthood vote that Cruz referred to in the quote above. The amendment that Cruz was trying to introduce had to do with Iran. It would have prohibited sanctions from being lifted on Iran “until the country recognizes Israel’s right to exist and frees four American hostages.”
The bill under consideration was the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015, but that’s deceiving because it’s actually a bill to pay for our federal transportation needs. And the dispute arose from Majority Leader McConnell’s decision to allow a vote on an amendment reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.
For Ted Cruz, if the Export-Import Bank is germane to transportation, then so are Planned Parenthood and Iran.
Unless you are some kind of procedural geek, this stuff is as exciting as watching paint dry. But the overall result is actually pretty cool. On Friday, Ted Cruz went on the Senate floor and called his own party’s leader a liar, which is a clear violation of the Senate rules on decorum (Rule XIX, Section 2).
2. No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.
On Sunday, he was rewarded by having to watch virtually the entire Senate rebuke and humiliate him when he sought recognition to force a roll call vote.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2015/7/27/11927/3226
There must be some weird planetary mojo afoot when I find myself saying, “Yeah, McConnell”. Now I’m kind of throwing up in my mouth a little…
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/625612720709177345/photo/1
https://twitter.com/YasminYonis/status/625438552487276545
The Middle Class at Risk
The Dangerous Gap Between the Rhetoric and Reality of Republican Prescriptions for the Economy
American families have experienced dramatic changes over the past few decades. It used to be common that one middle-class income was enough to meet the needs of an entire family—money enough to send kids to college, buy a home, and save for retirement. Today, most families need two incomes to make ends meet. But even as families are working harder and harder, they are struggling and feeling economically insecure.
Although corporate profits are at all-time highs and the richest Americans have seen the bulk of the gains in the recovery, working- and middle-class families continue to struggle. The lack of support for families and the challenges of stagnant wages and the ever-rising middle-class costs have placed tremendous strains on most Americans. The research bears out what families are experiencing. The Center for American Progress recently estimated that the real cost of middle-class security—that is to say, health care, college savings, child care, housing, and a retirement nest egg—rose $10,600, or 30 percent, between 2000 and 2012, a period when the median married couple with two children saw no real income growth. (see Figure 1) The result has been that American families are being squeezed more and more as middle-class costs rise faster than middle-class incomes.
https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/general/report/2015/07/27/118103/the-middle-class-at-risk/
Trump is not talking to the GOP base….he’s talking to the GOP MAINSTREAM.
https://twitter.com/Salon/status/624913257980108800
https://twitter.com/sonamie/status/625710766507864064
https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/625715402593685505
https://twitter.com/archivesfdn/status/625717403851325444
Because, this is who they are.
………………
Texas Supreme Court Rules Houston LGBT Rights Ordinance Must Be Put to a Vote—or Repealed
By Mark Joseph Stern
n a startling and dubious ruling on Friday, the Texas Supreme Court held that Houston’s LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance must be put to a popular vote—or repealed. The decision effectively revives the vitriolic, acrimonious campaign against the ordinance. And it sends Houston a clear message from the state supreme court: We don’t like your law.
Houston’s equal rights ordinance has had a troubled history from the start. In May 2014, the Houston City Council passed the ordinance to protect gay, bi, and trans people from discrimination in housing, employment, and city contracts. Opponents of the measure quickly gathered signatures to force a referendum on the law. At first, the city secretary found the petition to be valid. But further examination revealed some irregularities. A jury found that many of the signatures were forged, and a judge agreed, throwing out the petition because, when the forgeries were excluded, it had too few signatures to move forward. Following the judge and jury’s findings, the city attorney ruled the petition invalid.
Now, the Texas Supreme Court has reversed the decisions of the judge, jury, and city attorney. It does so under a thin veneer of law—but its decision is more of a policy statement than a legal ruling. The court states that the power of referendum “is the exercise by the people of the power reserved to them.” That’s undoubtedly correct. The court also notes that the city secretary initially certified the petition. That’s true, too. But the court then ignores the fact that a judge and jury found the petition to be fraudulent, holding that by not certifying forged signatures, “the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored.”
What? The court’s grand pronouncements cloud the waters, but the facts here are pretty simple. In order to put a city ordinance to referendum, opponents must gather 17,269 signatures. Opponents of Houston’s nondiscrimination law didn’t do that. Instead, they gathered several thousand valid signatures and several thousand forgeries. Minus the forgeries, they failed to reach the minimum threshold of signatures. The Texas Supreme Court doesn’t care. Instead, it decided for itself that the signatures were valid. Then it ordered that enforcement of the ordinance be immediately stopped and compelled the city council to consider repealing it. If the council fails to repeal it, the ordinance must be put to a popular vote in the November 2015 election.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/07/24/texas_supreme_court_puts_houston_lgbt_rights_ordinance_in_danger.html
https://twitter.com/JudithBenezra/status/625705334871453696
This interview is going to sooo much fun, I can tell already.
Welcome home glam-ma! Hope you had a fun time with your grandson..
Hi Eliihaas. I’m still with my grandson, got here yesterday, and I’m Loving every minute too!
Lol, Ametia…I somehow thought you went over the weekend…Have fun and enjoy every moment of your time with him!
Also forgot to mention to you and the rest of the family, please try and find and buy a copy of MORE magazine July/August issue with FLOTUS as guest editor..It’s fantastic…
You might have to search for it behind stacks of other magazines at your local grocery or Walgreens, CVS etc. I understand that it’s usual for publications that positively reflect our FLOTUS to be hidden away, while the gossip rags that denigrate her, and try to discredit and turn people against her, are prominently displayed at the front of the store…
This MORE magazine issue is very, very well done – and a huge collectors item: First time a sitting First Lady has ever edited a magazine…But most importantly, it’s chockfull of fun and practical information, and gives you a peek into FLOTUS and some of her passion…She writes the Editor’s note and also has a close-out note at the end…I also enjoyed an interview with FLOTUS’ long-time aide and deputy Chief of Staff Melissa Winters, and a short story by a young African writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie..
I bought tons of copies – kept a couple and gave a copy each to friends and others..
Find it and buy it, it’ll be the best $4.99 you’ve spent in a long time…And keep it well..it’ll be worth so much more in the future…
Oh, Granny Ametia! You must be loving your time with your precious grandson! :)
So happy for you and your family!
TV One’s Original Movie ‘Girlfriends Getaway 2′ Reunites Original Cast – August Premiere Set
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
July 27, 2015 at 1:25PM
TV One’s 2014 comedy, “Girlfriends’ Getaway,” returns with a sequel, reuniting the original cast members Garcelle Beauvais, Malinda Williams, Terri J. Vaughn, and Essence Atkins, with an end-of-summer premiere on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. ET.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/tv-ones-original-movie-girlfriends-getaway-2-reunites-original-cast-august-premiere-set-20150727
Morning Plum: Big majority of GOP voters favors mass deportation, poll finds
By Greg Sargent July 27 at 9:15 AM
This new poll finding, courtesy of CNN, is not all that surprising, but it is very illuminating of the demographic challenges the GOP faces right now: A big majority of Republicans believes that the government’s main focus on immigration should be not just on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, but also on deporting those already here.
By 56-42, Americans support developing a plan to legalize undocumented immigrants over stopping their flow and deporting those already here. Independents agree by 58-39, and moderates by 59-40.
But Republicans favor stopping the flow of undocumenteds and deporting those already here by 63-34. So do conservatives, by 55-43. “Those already here,” of course, amount to some 11 million people.
Now, it’s certainly possible that GOP support for deportation is inflated somewhat by the inclusion of securing the border on that side of the question. But even when the question is framed a bit less starkly, as a recent Post/ABC News poll did, a majority of Republicans does not think the undocumented should be allowed to live and work here even if they pay a fine and meet other requirements. This should not obscure the fact that a substantial number of Republicans are, in fact, open to legalization; it’s just that more of them apparently aren’t.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/07/27/morning-plum-big-majority-of-gop-voters-favors-mass-deportation-poll-finds/
https://twitter.com/dougmillsnyt/status/625718397486145536
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/625668249942888452
Old, white, bitter men.GTFOH
I was just thinking the exact same thing.
BWA HA HA HA HA HAA
https://twitter.com/halelule/status/625636902960394240
A Texas test for critics of judicial activism
07/27/15 10:03 AM—UPDATED 07/27/15 01:21 PM
By Steve Benen
Last year, Houston’s City Council passed one of Texas’ most sweeping anti-discrimination measures, extending new protections to the LGBT community in the areas of housing, employment, and city contracts. Almost immediately, conservative activists started collecting petition signatures to force a citywide referendum on the issue.
It didn’t turn out well – though it initially looked as though opponents of the law had collected the necessary number of signatures, the city attorney, a local jury, and a local judge all concluded that many of the petition signatures were fraudulent. Anti-gay activists needed more than 17,000 signatures to get the matter onto the ballot, and after counting the legitimate signatures, it was clear that conservatives fell short.
Oddly enough, as the NBC affiliate in Houston reported late Friday afternoon, the Texas Supreme Court took matters into its own hands.
The Texas Supreme Court has suspended the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, ruling that the ordinance either be repealed or put before voters.
The court states that Houston City Council has 30 days to repeal the ordinance or the issue will be placed on the November ballot.
I realize that Republicans hold all of the seats on the state Supreme Court, but this story is bizarre, even by the standards of the Texas GOP.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/texas-test-critics-judicial-activism
Jobs-council controversy dogs Wisconsin’s Walker
07/27/15 12:45 PM
By Steve Benen
As a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker (R) made a public vow that, in retrospect, was unfortunately specific: elect him and he’d create 250,000 jobs in his first term. It could serve, above all else, the Republican said, could serve as a metric for his job performance.
By his own standard, Walker failed spectacularly, and Wisconsin struggled to get halfway to the governor’s goal during his first four years, reinforcing suspicions that his entire approach to economic policy is simply wrong. But looking ahead, the more salient problem isn’t Walker’s inability to deliver on his promise, but rather, the questions surrounding the far-right governor’s jobs council, created to help him try to reach his own goal.
Shortly after Walker took office, state policymakers created the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, or WEDC, with Walker personally chairing its board. The idea was to create an entity that could quickly and efficiently, with minimal red tape, extend grants, loans, and tax credits to the private sector, cultivating state job growth.
Obviously, the idea didn’t work, though as TPM reported last week, failure is just the tip of the iceberg.
Only one year in, journalists and watchdogs began uncovering evidence of mismanagement in WEDC. After filing open records requests in 2012 to scrutinize the agency’s first year of operations, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel learned that WEDC had lost track of much of their initial $56 million loan portfolio. The agency was discovered to have understated, by about a third, the amount of money it had loaned out to companies that had fallen behind on repayments.
And a pattern began to emerge: two loans totaling some $5 million had gone to two timber companies, Flambeau River Papers and Flambeau River Biofuels, both run by William “Butch” Johnson, a donor to Walker’s campaign. […]
Moreover, the agency’s expense account turned out to be full of nuggets: WEDC had bought six season tickets to University of Wisconsin football games for the governor’s office. They expensed booze for meetings with WEDC contractors, train tickets in China and meals in India for the agency director’s family, and iTunes gift cards for agency staff.
When the Wisconsin Supreme Court ended the inquiry into Walker’s campaign-finance scandal, the Republican presidential hopeful very likely assumed his national campaign could move forward, controversy-free. The questions surrounding the WEDC, however, are arguably even more serious – and they’re not going away.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jobs-council-controversy-dogs-wisconsins-walker
https://twitter.com/AFPphoto/status/625586141593497600
https://twitter.com/XanxiuZ/status/624611506458460160
deray mckesson @deray 6m6 minutes ago
Watch Live: Officials Give Update in Sandra Bland Investigation [Beginning Soon] http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/live-video/watch-live-officials-give-update-in-sandra-bland-investigation-322485827772 …
The DA passed out the toxicology report and left it up to the reporters to find their own experts to interpret it.
He also said the feds are working on “the cellphone” and that he has not received a report yet.
(He also referred to a rumor going around, and he stated he is not married to the medical examiner.)
Political Animal Blog
July 26, 2015 4:50 PM
The GOP Isn’t Choosing a President. They’re Choosing a Rebel Leader.
By David Atkins
…………………
The clown car of Republican presidential candidates seems to agree. As Donald Trump has surged to the top of the field, his competitors are resorting to saying ever more outlandish and reprehensible things just to get noticed.
Witness the spectacle of Mike Huckabee this morning claiming that the negotiated deal with Iran would constitute President Obama marching “Israelis to the door of the oven.” Even by modern Republican standards that sort of rhetoric is a bridge too far. But it’s the sort of thing a Republican presidential aspirant has to say these days to get attention and support from the Republican base.
Or consider Rick Perry today, whose brilliant solution to mass shootings is for us to all “take our guns to the movie theaters.” As if the proper response to suicidal mass murderers using guns as the easiest, deadliest and most readily available tool to inflict mayhem is to arm every man, woman and child in the hope that the shooter dies slightly more quickly in the crossfire of a dark auditorium. Even as other moviegoers settle their disputes over cell phone texting with deadly gun violence.
Under normal circumstances these sorts of statements would be a death knell for presidential candidates. But these are not normal times. The Republican Party is locked into an autocatalytic cycle of increasing and self-reinforcing extremism.
The blue-collar white males who make up the GOP base are struggling more and more as business-friendly trickle-down economic policies continue to rob them of their economic security—but their inherent racism, sexism and distrust of government leads them to inherently reject reasonable liberal solutions in the fear that someone they don’t like might get a “handout” with their tax dollars. Hardcore political Republican partisans are slowly realizing that they no longer hold a silent majority in the country if they ever did, that every passing year demographic change makes their electoral prospects increasingly difficult, and that only a combination of gerrymandering, small-state-favoritism and accidental geographic political self-selection allows them to hold onto the House and Senate for now. And conservatives of all stripes can feel the ground shift underneath them irrevocably as liberals continue to win battles on social issues even as unfiltered left-leaning economic populism becomes increasingly mainstream.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_07/the_gop_isnt_choosing_a_presid056769.php
Why Africa loves Obama—and it’s not why you might think
………………….
… Let’s be honest. Obama’s election as America’s first black president and his family connections to Africa will forever afford him tremendous good will on the continent. But Africans’ deep affection for Obama is not based entirely on his race or ancestry.
It’s his engagement with the wider world—and not just Africa—that sets him apart in the minds of many. More than any previous US president, Barack Obama exhibits a true global sensibility. Yes, he is first and foremost an American and he acts to advance his country’s interests. But his recognition that there are other perspectives in the world is what makes him unique. Both stylistically and substantively, that has come to endear him not only to Africa but many other people across the world…
People who argue that Obama has been a disappointment to Africa view the situation from a very different perspective. Politico suggested that Obama’s decision not to direct vast sums of direct aid to Africa are proof of his failure: “Africa’s a continent where politics is all about patronage, and a president of the United States with Kenyan roots seemed to many Africans like the ultimate political patron.”
Well, not really mate. The Obama years have coincided with the extraordinary shift in Africa’s thinking about the present and the achievable future. Africans, like no other time before us, have come to believe in our ability to shape our future without the patronage of others.
This is something that Obama understands. And Africans love the fact that he gets it: What we want is not a patron, but a true partner.
http://qz.com/464172/why-africa-loves-obama-and-its-not-why-you-might-think/
https://twitter.com/NSCPress/status/625580797974716416
https://twitter.com/StateHouseKenya/status/625599933341523968
https://twitter.com/PSCU_Digital/status/625331684016267264
https://twitter.com/Ldejene/status/625561911812333568
New polling: Trump’s inevitable collapse hasn’t happened
07/27/15 08:00 AM—UPDATED 07/27/15 08:13 AM
By Steve Benen
After Donald Trump went after Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) military service at an Iowa forum last weekend, much of the punditocracy came to a conclusion: this guy’s toast. There are some basic lines of political decency that cannot be crossed, and Trump crossed one of them with brazen enthusiasm.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Republican candidate’s inevitable collapse: the predictions proved to be wrong. NBC News’ Mark Murray reported over the weekend on Trump’s improved position in the first two nominating states.
Trump leads the Republican presidential field in New Hampshire, getting support from 21% of potential GOP primary voters. He’s followed by Jeb Bush at 14%, Scott Walker at 12% and John Kasich at 7%. Chris Christie and Ben Carson are tied at 6% in the Granite State, and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are at 5% each.
In Iowa, Walker and Trump are in the Top 2 – with Walker at 19% among potential Republican caucus-goers and Trump at 17%. They’re followed by Bush at 12%, Carson at 8%, Mike Huckabee at 7% and Rand Paul at 5%.
Because of the significance – or at least, the perceived significance – of the Trump/McCain controversy, note that these statewide polls were conducted from July 14 to 21, with the Iowa forum comments coming on July 18. Murray added that Trump’s standing in Iowa was actually slightly better after his criticisms of the Arizona senator, though his support faltered a bit in New Hampshire.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-polling-trumps-inevitable-collapse-hasnt-happened
Good Morning, Chics and Chicettes. I was going to paraphrase the Geico commercial (If you’re a Republican, you hurl vile slanderous accusations at the poor, immigrants, gays, women, POC and President Obama. It’s what you do”) but PBO beat me to it (tweet below).
Everyone have a blessed day!
Good morning, Kathleen. Have a great day.
My President has NMFTG
https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/625630397389475840
https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/625638057392381952
Surely to Inspire Conversation, Filmmaking Couple Tackles Search for Black Wealth in New Documentary (Trailer)
Photo of Tambay A. Obenson
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
July 24, 2015 at 2:21PM
Here’s a new feature documentary that I’m sure you all will be interested in seeing, and that has the potential to inspire conversation…
In brief, it’s titled “Generation One: The Search for Black Wealth,” and it hails from the same husband and wife team behind the immensely popular website, BlackandMarriedWithKids.com – Lamar and Ronnie Tyler. It’s their 5th film (we profiled some of their previous work, like 2012’s “Still Standing,” which features interviews with black couples sharing personal stories of how they’ve overcome a series of obstacles in their marriages.
The focus of their latest effort, “Generation One: The Search for Black Wealth,” is on “the lack of generational wealth in the black community and what we can do about it.”
The film’s official synopsis reads: With the 2007 recession, the housing crisis and soaring unemployment rates leaving Black America’s wallet trapped in the crosshairs of the United States’ financial crisis, the lack of generational wealth in the African American community has never been in sharper focus. “Generation One” takes a hard look at the numbers, giving historical context to early wealth creation in the Black community and tapping the expertise of the nation’s top financial experts to weigh in not only on how Blacks fell behind, but surefire strategies families can implement to begin building a strong financial legacy for generations to come.
Certainly very topical, and should be quite informative.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/surely-to-inspire-conversation-filmmaking-couple-tackles-search-for-black-wealth-in-new-documentary-trailer-20150724
https://twitter.com/calestous/status/625346892642299904
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/625393985654120448
oh my…I really want to see this.
Inspiring Doc ‘The Curators of Dixon School’ Screening at Black Cinema House in Chicago Sunday July 26
Shadow and Act
By Sergio | Shadow and Act
July 24, 2015 at 9:02PM
The Dixon Elementary public school located on Chicago’s South Side is without question one of the most unique public schools in the country. The teachers and administrators who run the school intended it to be not only a place of learning, but also a place of inspiration.
As a result, the school has surrounded the hallways and the outside property with over 200 beautiful and colorful works of art, and priceless sculptures by some of the foremost African-American artists in the country, such as Dayo Laoye, Carolyn Elaine, Peter Gray and Faheem Majeed.
And as you can imagine, there were battles with the Chicago Public Schools bureaucracy who didn’t take kindly to having teachers inspiring young black impressionable minds in a positive way.
But it had to be done to encourage students to interact with, and respect beautiful works of African-American art, but also to “remind students and visitors that the African-American experience is a complex one and helps students connect with their history, their community and each other”.
Filmmaker, journalist and playwright Pamela Sherrod Anderson spent over two years making her documentary feature film, “The Curators of Dixson School,” about the school and its mission. In the past three years the film has traveled around the country on the film festival circuit.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/inspiring-doc-the-curators-of-dixon-school-screening-at-black-cinema-house-in-chicago-sunday-july-26-20150724
Trump Tickles the Hatred Zone
by BooMan
Sun Jul 26th, 2015 at 10:11:40 AM EST
You now have new data from the CNN/ORC poll and the Economist/YouGov poll. They both indicate that Donald Trump weathered the storm from his John McCain comments and came out of the controversy in a stronger overall position. I kind of like how Molly Ball summarized the situation:
Trump has the Republican Party by the throat. It cannot figure out how to get rid of him. The party elites, those snobs in D.C. who do not respect or understand the people out there in America, are tearing their hair out over the damage Trump is supposedly doing to the party…
…Yet the party has no power over Trump. He has the money, he has the press, he has the voters…
…Tomorrow, he will be on the front page again; he will lead all the newscasts. The summer of Trump will continue.
You can’t stop it. Nobody can.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2015/7/26/101140/396
WELL….it’s been a week since Trump’ insulted ‘McCain…
and, where are his polling numbers?
BWA HA HA HA AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
CNN/ORC poll: GOP voters want more Trump
By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN Polling Director
Updated 10:31 AM ET, Sun July 26, 2015
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/26/politics/cnn-poll-trump/index.html
UH HUH
Republicans Alter Script on Abortion, Seeking to Shift Debate
By JEREMY W. PETERS
11 hrs ago
WASHINGTON — Rick Perry’s voice softens when he talks about the joy he gets from looking at his iPad and seeing “that 20-week picture of my first grandbaby.” Marco Rubio says ultrasounds of his sons and daughters reinforced how “they were children — and they were our children.” Rand Paul recalls watching fetuses suck their thumbs. And Chris Christie says the ultrasound of his first daughter changed his views on abortion.
If they seem to be reading from the same script, they are.
With help from a well-funded, well-researched and invigorated anti-abortion movement, Republican politicians have refined how they are talking about pregnancy and abortion rights, choosing their words in a way they hope puts Democrats on the defensive.
The goal, social conservatives say, is to shift the debate away from the “war on women” paradigm that has proved so harmful to their party’s image.
Democrats were jolted by the latest and perhaps most disruptive effort yet in this line of attack by activists who want to outlaw abortion: surreptitiously recorded video of Planned Parenthood doctors casually discussing how they extract tissue from aborted fetuses.
It took Hillary Rodham Clinton several days to respond to the uproar the videos created. When she finally did late last week, she called the videos part of a deliberate and “concerted attack” on women’s rights, and pointed back to Planned Parenthood, which she said had already apologized for the tone of one of the doctors who were recorded.
It is unclear whether the new offensive will succeed in crippling Planned Parenthood, a provider of across-the-board women’s health services that has long been a target of conservatives for the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding it receives. Democrats like Mrs. Clinton have so far not wavered.
But with the presidential campaign revving up, Democrats and abortion rights supporters are bracing for a sustained, sophisticated and coordinated effort to force a debate on the uncomfortable moral and ethical questions that abortion raises.
“The out-of-sight, out-of-mind mantra that propelled the pro-choice movement for decades is forever gone,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster who has been hired by conservative candidates, anti-abortion groups and the Republican National Committee to help conservatives sharpen their message on the issue. (Ms. Conway has advised Republicans, especially men, to describe their recollections of seeing ultrasound images for the first time because it can be disarming. Coincidentally or not, many of the party’s presidential contenders did so in New Orleans this month at a gathering of the National Right to Life Committee.)
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-alter-script-on-abortion-seeking-to-shift-debate/ar-AAdx3in?ocid=HPCDHP
https://twitter.com/NationalMemo/status/625411146749747200
Theo67 retweeted
PinacNews.com @PINACnews
#Philly Cop Punches Handcuffed Suspect in Face, Social Media Catches Officer Planting Weapon http://bit.ly/1I3G5Ui
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Morning, Chica!
Helloooooooooooooooo Everone!
Heyyy!
You made it! How was your flight?
How is the cutiepie, Ametia?
Did he smile when he saw Grandma?