Sunday Open Thread

Posted on October 25, 2015 by rikyrah

Good Morning. Hope you are enjoying this weekend with family and friends.

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

36 Responses to Sunday Open Thread

  5. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 8:11 pm

    Media Alert:

    OWN: LEGENDS AT THE APOLLO is on right now on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

    It will repeat at 12 am EST

    Reply
  6. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    October 25, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    “The family of Sandra Bland met with Bernie Sanders on Oct. 13, 2015.”

    The tale of Sanders’ chance encounter with Reed-Veal comes via the Rev. Hannah Bonner, who bumped into Sanders at Union Station in Washington last week while she was eating with Reed-Veal, and invited the presidential candidate to join their table.

    Bonner wrote in her blog recalling the meeting that she “was completely blown away by the unexpectedness of it all, the sacredness of the moment, and the sincerity of all involved.”

    Bonner wrote that after they talked:

    “We asked Senator Sanders if we could take a picture with him and he consented. He did not impose upon Ms. Geneva to ask for a picture of his own. He did not use the moment as an opportunity to promote his campaign. He took no record, he made no statement. He did not try to turn it into a publicity stunt. He simply made space for a sacred moment, and then let it pass without trying to gain anything from it.

    “For that, I respect him. For that, I am grateful. That choice may not have made him a very good politician, but it made him a better man.”

    Bonner shared the photo with The Huffington Post on Tuesday as proof of the meeting:

    http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/5620f6ea1400002b003c8676.jpeg?cache=zlmputVwzH

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-sandra-bland_56201d82e4b06462a13b719d?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&section=politics

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 6:38 pm

    Can We Stop Pretending That Ben Carson Is Running for President?
    As he quietly suspends his campaign to hawk books, one has to wonder: Is this guy serious?

    BY: JASON JOHNSON
    Posted: Oct. 22 2015 3:00 AM

    There was a time when running for president was actually a money-losing venture.

    In fact, over the last 30 or so years, most presidential candidates (including some who actually won) ended up with tremendous debts after the campaign. Being in the red during and after a campaign was so common that paying off a former opponent’s campaign debt was seen as a benevolent form of political stunting. (Thanks, Obama!) But all of that has changed since Citizens United in 2010. Thanks to super PACs and enforcement mechanisms flimsier than tissue paper, running for president can now become a ridiculous money grab if you’re willing to put in the time.

    So can we please start to differentiate between those people running for president and those out to get a quick buck and some inflated speaking fees? And we can start with one of the most egregious perpetrators of this new political fraud: Ben Carson.

    Very quietly, about two weeks ago, Carson actually suspended his campaign for president. I know that most people probably didn’t notice because they were reeling from a week of Carson lecturing on how to survive a volcano, high-fiving the Confederate flag and dropping dimes on wealthy Popeye’s chicken cashiers, but this did actually occur. There is some nuance to this; essentially, Carson just dropped a new book, A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties, and will go on tour to promote it. To avoid violating campaign-finance rules, Carson, ABC initially reported, was suspending his campaign activities until the next televised debate on CNBC Oct. 28.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/10/can_we_stop_pretending_that_ben_carson_is_running_for_president.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    they were MIA during the Obama years – never saw them defend the President or First Lady..

    but, there they were, shinning and grinning for Miss Ann,oops, sorry, Hillary.

    from TOD:

    22jazziz2
    October 25, 2015 at 6:40 pm

    Linda, the CBC is my sore spot — I remember folks like Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke, Parren Mitchell, Robert Nix, Augustus Hawkins, Mickey Leland, Lou Stokes, Ron Dellums and so many others. These folks would have had PBO’s back. I noted during Thursday hearing, there were all of the usual suspects from the soul patrol in camera shot. Whenever they open their mouths to support Hil, I wonder what was the price… The status quo (Congressional and blackademia) has just been marking time until they can once again earn a few pennies, favors and “access.”

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 25, 2015 at 7:49 pm

      I only wish she was right about some of the older folks… But so many of these folks disappoint and disappoint quite mightily..

      Ron Dellums was (the disastrous) Mayor of the City of Oakland at the time then Senator Obama was running for office… (2007 – 2011; Let the records also show that among other things, he hired the horrid Anthony Batts as Police Chief for Oakland – Batts’ time included the Oscar Grant killing – Batts went on to Baltimore and his time there included the murder of Freddie Gray.)

      Ron Dellums refused to meet with then Senator Obama – refused. His excuse was that he was already committed to Hillary Clinton who he had endorsed as prematurely as many of them are doing today – on October 1, 2007. He wasn’t even polite or nice or respectful about dismissing the other candidate – in typical jigging for massa form, he had to be seen to be fully on board – and very public and effusive about his rejection of Senator Obama.

      I remember seeing him on the news boasting about how he would be delivering California to Hillary. He even led a so-called ‘caravan for Hillary’ or something like that, that supposedly traversed California. His compadres on the caravan were Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa etc.

      Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    But, he says it in Frank Luntz-approved dogwhistles, so somehow, that’s supposed to be more palatable..right?

    https://twitter.com/TeddyDavisCNN/status/655772258179354625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    The Story of Black people in America is littered with stories of promise cut short.

    …………………

    https://twitter.com/jazziz2/status/657737769691795456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      October 25, 2015 at 4:58 pm

      They don’t believe they will be held accountable, at least for now. I hope these thugs learn otherwise, get convicted of felonies, and have the rest of their lives affected by their criminal behavior.

      Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    for those who were unclear about Uncle Ben and how the Ben Carson of 2015, in today’s zero-tolerance society, would be firmly entrenched in the SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE

    and, why I have no patience for his cooning.

    HE was given chance upon chance to ‘ get his shyt together’ and live up to the ‘ promise’ that Adults around him saw in him. And, he used GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS to fulfill that promise.

    I do not begrudge him that others invested in him, and didn’t give up on him.

    I do not begrudge the patients that he was able to heal during his career, because he lived up to that potential.

    I DO BEGRUDGE him sitting here now, spouting all this right-wing bullshyt about Government Programs when he got EVERYTHING HE HAS BECAUSE OF A GOVERNMENT PROGRAM.

    ……………………………….

    From Meet the Press:

    Transcript via Meet The Press:

    CHUCK TODD: Do you think that people mistaken your soft-spokenness with a lack of energy?DR. BEN CARSON: I think so. I have plenty of energy. But, you know, I am soft-spoken. I do have a tendency to be relaxed. I wasn’t always like that. There was a time when I was, you know, very volatile. But, you know, I changed.

    CHUCK TODD: When was that?

    DR. BEN CARSON: As a teenager. I would go after people with rocks, and bricks, and baseball bats, and hammers. And, of course, many people know the story when I was 14 and I tried to stab someone. And, you know, fortunately, you know, my life has been changed. And I’m a very different person now.

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    SUNDAY, OCT 25, 2015 05:00 AM CDT
    In defense of American elitism: The alarming truth about the rise of Donald Trump
    Donald Trump is all the proof you need that populism isn’t all its cut out to be
    DAVID MASCIOTRA

    One of the imperishable clichés of American political discourse is the idea that a populist uprising could cure all the ills currently afflicting the nation’s government, economy, and culture. Abraham Lincoln’s dream of governance “by, of, and for the people” has mutated into a deathless trope, emanating from megaphones in the hands of charlatans, philistines and fools.

    The debate and dichotomy between populism and elitism has its origins in the foundation of the United States. Alexander Hamilton believed that an educated elite should legislate and lead with the consent of the governed, while Thomas Jefferson envisioned a “nation of farmers” in which the power of ordinary people surges through the halls of capitol buildings everywhere.

    It is indisputable that Jefferson has won the hearts of minds of the American people. The Tea Party right and the hard left form an odd consensus of popular revolt. The typical Trump voter and the average Sanders supporter might disagree on most policy questions, but they will agree that the masses must wrestle control of the country from the hands of the greedy, self-serving, and unprincipled elite. Should anyone question the populist assumption, as Mitt Romney did from the far right during his infamous “47 percent” speech, his political career is likely to meet a cruel and painful end.

    The informed observer, even if shamed into silence, has to occasionally examine the cultural landscape, the political dialogue, and the average American mind, and wonder: Who the hell are these people that right-wing and left-wing organizers expect to manage the institutions of the country, craft public policy, and offer leadership to an increasingly fragmented and ignorant public?

    http://www.salon.com/2015/10/25/in_defense_of_american_elitism_the_alarming_truth_about_the_rise_of_donald_trump/?source=newsletter

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    SUNDAY, OCT 25, 2015 04:59 AM CDT
    They really want a theocracy: The GOP candidates who want to make you bow to their lord
    GOP wants Christianity as our official religion. Middle East’s on fire. Theocrats are marching and must be stopped
    JEFFREY TAYLER

    …………………

    A new PPP survey reveals that Republicans are afflicted most, with 44 percent now favoring installing Christianity as the United States’ official religion. (Lest we forget, the GOP’s roster of potential 2016 candidates is stocked with rabid believers, and even faith-faker Donald Trump is courting evangelicals.) A shocking 28 percent of Democrats are also theocratically inclined. Only 53 percent of Republican and Democratic voters combined oppose declaring Jesus jabberwocky our national faith.

    The upshot: almost three out of four adult Americans would, in effect, junk the First Amendment, and with it, our gloriously godless system of governance.

    These statistics should prompt all rationalists to sound the proverbial tocsin with unrelenting fury. The religious-secular divide among Americans is deepening, putting those who value reason, evidence and consensus-based decisions in direct opposition to putrid supernatural gobbledygook’s slackwitted votaries; in other words, to those who hear voices, see visions, and engage in kooky superstitious rituals – prayer, for instance – that would lead to their immediate institutionalization if such symptoms were not classified under the (scandalously) ennobling rubric of “religion.”

    ………………………….

    The situation, thus, is dire. We no longer have time for niceties. We need to speak out forcibly against faith and expose it for what it is – a delusion deleterious to liberty and the commonwealth.

    The stakes are high. The faith-deranged support a (largely successful) nationwide campaign to restrict women’s reproductive rights and introduce Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, of which there are now 21 in force, with others on the way. As a result of decades of Christian propaganda, performing abortions can be life-threatening for doctors. And in times of widespread fiscal austerity, the government loses about $83 billion a year to religious tax exemptions. This should all outrage us and incite us to act.

    http://www.salon.com/2015/10/25/they_really_want_a_theocracy_the_gop_candidates_who_want_to_make_you_bow_to_their_lord/?source=newsletter

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    SATURDAY, OCT 24, 2015 08:29 AM CDT
    How superdonors are gutting America: Here’s the research that helps explain a political system’s rightward lurch
    There’s been some debate over the role of the largest donors on the political process. Research tells the tale
    SEAN MCELWEE

    How has the rise of big donors affected our policies? Conventional wisdom suggests that it’s pushing our politics to the right. However, in a recent post over at Vox, political scientist Seth Masket, whose work I deeply respect and have read for years, argues that “what’s not happening here is the superdonors skewing American politics rightward.”

    His argument is that so far in the 2016 election, superdonors have tended to be Republican simply because that’s where the interesting contest is — and not as an indication of any larger trend. Here, I have no qualms. However, he links to one of his older posts when he notes that “studies of the ideological leanings of superdonors suggest they come from all across the ideological spectrum.” In that older post, he argues that “the 30 wealthiest donors in the country are actually pretty moderate… Apart from some extremists like George Soros and the Koch brothers, most exist between the party medians.” He concludes that, “The super wealthy are certainly paying a lot of money into the political system these days, but it’s far from clear what they’re getting out of it.”

    There’s quite a bit to get into in these statements, but the core fault is to assume that 1) because big donors appear to vary across the ideological spectrum, their net effect on policy is a wash, and 2) because big donors appear moderate and policy has become increasingly extreme, big donors aren’t influencing policy.

    http://www.salon.com/2015/10/24/how_superdonors_are_gutting_america_heres_the_research_that_helps_explain_a_political_systems_rightward_lurch/?source=newsletter

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    Put on Blast: Mom Reveals Son’s Adopted Immigrant Past After Reading His Racist Facebook Post By Shanieka Stanton | October 21, 2015

    Unfortunately, in today’s society racism is covert and can usually be found in the most surprising places. However, what if you are a parent that has raised your child to emulate the proper values, morals and beliefs that you felt were good, upstanding and sound. This is the dialogue that was created by the Banker (son) and finished superbly by his mother:

    The son posted, “This image here is the ultimate argument why immigrants do not (and never will) have the capacity to hold any decent position in our country.” ‘#Disgusting#Foreigners#’

    The son’s friend followed with, “UR right never will-and never should!!!! Good thing you don’t have any of these at our office”

    The son then says, “Well, there must be a reason why my bank has none of them in our senior management. I mean-would you trust an immigrant with your money?”

    One of his friends apparently enjoyed his statement, “(=))))))))))))))))))” as this was the reply.

    The son undoubtedly feeling very confident then writes, “Regardless of how many years/generations they live here next to us, they are just not capable to learn how civilized and intelligent as normal people be. It seems as if that some features will never leave their species.”

    Another admired comment as the friend replies, “hahahahahaha.”

    ……………………………………….

    The Banker’s (son) mother steps in with the most meaningful comments: “My dearest, hate to break this racist orgy between you and your ‘ingenious’ friends. We’ve never meant to tell you this, and maybe I shouldn’t do it even now, but you have really crossed the line this time. So-you deserve this.”

    I just wanted to tell you that we (your dad and myself) have adopted you 23 years back (when you were 2) from an Armenian family who was at the time living in Sofia, Bulgaria.

    Still, nothing to be ashamed of. You still turned out to be a young successful banker with a great life. Guess those “dirty foreigners” with their “dirty genes” ARE capable of achieving something in their life after all.

    PS-We are still expecting you for lunch on Sunday. I am preparing Spaghetti Bolognese. Hope that’s not too “foreign” for you.”

    http://naturallymoi.com/2015/10/put-on-blast-mom-reveals-sons-adopted-immigrant-past-after-reading-his-racist-facebook-post/#.Vi0tfH6rSM9

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    White People Are Now Crying “Racism” & Planning To #BoycottStarWarsVII
    By patrice | October 21, 2015

    White people have finally had enough of the day to day oppression and marginalization of their people for so many years and are now in an uproar over what they perceive as racism in the film industry. After the release of the final trailer of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” many in the white community have started a movement to boycott the JJ Abrams film.

    Using the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII, whites are accusing the film of pushing a multicultural agenda and engage in “white genocide,” according to one of the tweets that used the hashtag.

    “#BoycottStarWarsVII because it is anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide.”

    The hashtag, which first made its rounds on Twitter this past Sunday and Monday night, objected that none of the films main protagonists are a white male. Daisy Ridley is a woman, John Boyega is African American and Oscar Isaac is Guatemalan American.

    Though the hashtag first began with just a small vocal group of individuals on social media, part of the reason why it has began to trend is due to others retweeting the hashtag out of curiosity or to simply defend the upcoming film for the iconic brand. Defenders of the movie included Ava Duvernay, a prominent African American female director best known for her work with “Selma.” She is now working to encourage Twitter to #CelebrateStarWarsVII instead.

    One Twitter user wrote in defense of the movie, “#BoycottStarWarsVII folks, Lemme get this straight: Wookies, Ewoks & Droids are fine but a BLACK PERSON is a problem? Go home.You’re Drunk.”

    http://naturallymoi.com/2015/10/white-people-are-now-crying-racism-planning-to-boycottstarwarsvii/#.Vi0tYX6rSM9

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    hmmmmmmm

    ……………..

    Chinese Firm Plans $1.3 Billion Purchase Of Texas Oil Lands
    OCTOBER 25, 201512:12 PM ET

    A Chinese investment holding company intends to put down stakes in the United States after signing a letter of intent to purchase oil properties in western Texas for $1.3 billion through a limited liability partnership.

    The Shanghai-listed Yantai Xinchao Industry Co., said in a securities filing over the weekend, it was a purchasing oil lands in the Texas counties of Howard and Borden as part of the proposed acquisition of Ningbo Dingliang Huitong Equity Investment Center, according to the Associated Press.

    The news service also reports Yantai Xinchao said in its letter of intent, the transaction, worth 8.3 billion yuan, has been “approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States” which is part of the Treasury Department.

    The oil properties are being purchased from Tall City Exploration LLC and Plymouth Petroleum LLC, according to the Wall Street Journal.

    Neither Tall City Exploration or ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, the parent company of Plymouth Petroleum, returned requests for comment by the time of this posting. We will update if things change.

    The Wall Street Journal also reports Chinese energy companies have been longing to do business in the U.S. because of “stable laws governing oil exploration and production.” The publication adds:

    http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/25/451675784/chinese-firm-plans-1-3-billion-purchase-of-texas-oil-lands?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    October 25, 2015 at 9:52 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply

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