Thursday Open Thread | Holiday Music

Posted on December 10, 2015 by SouthernGirl2

Christmas Candles 56“Blue Christmas” is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson. It is a tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music, especially in the country genre.

The song was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948,[3] and was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by country artist Ernest Tubb; one by bandleader Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra; and one by bandleader Russ Morgan and his orchestra (the latter featuring lead vocals by Morgan and backing vocals by singers credited as the Morganaires).

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
This entry was posted in Christmas Songs, Current Events, Music, News, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

106 Responses to Thursday Open Thread | Holiday Music

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    CNN & MSNBC

    Kiss My Entire Ass

    Reply
  2. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:20 pm

    CNN had wall to wall coverage abt #RayRice for weeks pretending they gave a ISH abt violence against a blk woman. WTF abt #DanielHoltzclaw? Rape is violence, mofos!

    Reply
  3. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    We see u @msnbc @CNN not covering the #DanielHoltzclaw GUILTY verdict. Was it b/c the crimes were against black women?

    Reply
  4. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    A former cop gets convicted of serial rape against 13 black women & no got damn media coverage. But that’s ok, social media is covering it!

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    Rod TBGWT @rodimusprime
    If a white woman goes missing for 10 minutes Nancy Grace is on tv accusing her boyfriend of murder for months. But now? Crickets.

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    Amanda Seales ✔ @amandaseales
    NONE OF THE NEWS CHANNELS ARE REPORTING THIS #DanielHoltzclaw VERDICT. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT US

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      December 10, 2015 at 9:01 pm

      MyT_AfrodyT @hi_pah
      @elonjames @insanityreport They’d rather do a walk thru of a dead terrorist’s apt. Nothing scrolling across the bottom of the screen either.

      Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    Racialicious ‏@racialicious 22m22 minutes ago

    Verdict 1: Guilty (8 years)
    2: Not Guilty
    3: Not Guilty
    4: Guilty (5 years)
    5: Guilty (5 years)
    6: Not Guilty
    7: Not Guilty
    8: Guilty (20y)
    9: Not guilty
    10: Guilty (16 years)
    11. Guilty (30 years)
    12: Not Guilty.
    13: Guilty (8 years)
    14: Guilty (8 years)
    15: Guilty (5 years)
    16. Guilty (16 years)
    17. Not Guilty
    18. Not Guilty
    19. Not Guilty
    20. Not Guilty
    21. Not guilty
    22. Not guilty
    23. Not guilty
    25. Not guilty
    26. Not guilty
    27. Guilty (16 years)
    28. Guilty (30 years)

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    K.dot @keelasoup
    #DanielHoltzclaw trial will B in history:
    1.) rape victims rarely see justice
    2.) Police officers rarely get convicted
    3.) All white jury

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:46 pm

    Black Girl Culture @blxckgirlbeauty
    A cop rapes multiple black women and girls, gets convicted on 18 charges and STILL no major media coverage. Wow. #DanielHoltzclaw

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    Angel @UrbnHealthNP
    If it weren’t for Twitter you’d have no idea who/what the #DanielHoltzclaw issue is all about. Not one channel covering this verdict.

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    NBC BLK ✔ @NBCBLK
    BREAKING: The jury finds #DanielHoltzclaw Guilty on 18 counts and Not Guilty on 16 counts.

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    #DanielHoltzclaw verdict: multiple counts, some not guilty, multiple guilty verdicts, 5 years, 8 years, 20 years, 30 years. Still reading…

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    don’t drop the soap, muthaphucka

    Goldietaylor 4s4 seconds ago

    #DanielHoltzclaw received mixed verdicts, sentencing recommendation +100 years. Formal sentencing to come later

    Reply
  17. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 6:53 pm

    Media feeds audience with constant stream of San Bernardino shooters and then air Trump’s KLAN RALLIES LIVE.

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    because, of course, there was no racism before January 20, 2009

    uh huh

    ………………….

    stop making us be racists!

    By Liberal Librarian

    I found this picture on the Twitter box yesterday. I shook my head and pursed my lips and moved on. Saved it for future use, however.

    I had no idea that the future is today.

    Over on the National Review (no link, as I don’t wish to give them clicks directly), there’s an article blaming Il Douche’s rise to—wait for it—that damned Obama! Yes, see, it’s all Barack Obama’s fault that a large swathe of white America has lost its puny little minds. If only someone not as black were inhabiting the White House the country would be a paradise of racial comity.

    That’s the lie right there. This country has never been a paradise of racial comity. As the President acknowledges, things have improved. But a lot of that improvement was, I believe, cosmetic. The racial animus simmered underground, waiting for a chance to boil up, as in Yugoslavia once it was freed from Marshal Tito’s iron grip. Only in this regard is Pres. Obama “responsible” for white people losing their shit; his election and conduct as president have held up a glaring light to their prejudices, and as often happens with human beings, once a fault is revealed we tend to scream louder that it’s not us, it’s them.

    What’s most amusing is that conservatives are the ones preaching taking personal responsibility. But why have they turned racist? Oh, it’s not us; we wouldn’t be screaming racial epithets if it weren’t for Barack Obama being black and in the White House, or liberals more generally.

    http://theobamadiary.com/2015/12/10/stop-making-us-be-racists/

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 3:11 pm

    natasha korecki @natashakorecki 16h16 hours ago
    NBC posts emails showing Emanuel’s Press Offce Aware of Laquan McDonald Dashcam Video Dec. 8 2014: http://www.nbcchicago.com/inve… …
    via @nbcchicago

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    14 THOUGHTS ON THE WIZ LIVE AFTER TAKING A WEEK TO FULLY PROCESS ITS BLACKASSNESS
    Alex Hardy, 12/10/15

    1. Black people are everything.
    2. Newcomer Shanice Williams was great as Dorothy. Her voice has just the right amount of innocence and clarity for this role. She was a joy to watch and held her own alongside a cast of stage and screen veterans…and Common. I look forward to seeing her career blossom and hope that she never winds up as a downtrodden damsel in distress in a tacky wig waiting for her equally tacky light-skinned prince charming in a predictable Tyler Perry production.

    http://verysmartbrothas.com/14-thoughts-on-the-wiz-live-after-taking-a-week-to-fully-process-its-blackassness/

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    How a Black Family Brought Exquisite Toni Morrison Vibes to ‘The Leftovers’

    “Here, blackness isn’t a commodity; it isn’t inherently political; it is the race of a people who are varied and complicated.” Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, The New York Times Magazine

    There’s a preacher in Toni Morrison’s “Paradise,” the epic novel about an all­black town and the complex families—and one powerful group of women at a former convent—who live in it, and he defines love for his congregation as such: “divine only, and difficult always.” If a fan of HBO’s “The Leftovers” was forced to describe the show in two words, those two would just about cover it. This second season especially, which shifted greatly, in part due to the introduction of the black Murphy family, was utterly divine and wonderfully difficult.

    “The Leftovers” is based on the Tom Perotta novel of the same name, but Season One ended at the same point of the book and opened up the door for showrunner Damon Lindelof to move in a new direction. The plot remained the same in Season Two—“The Leftovers” is a show about how various people respond to an unexplained phenomena in which 2% of the world’s population disappeared (because of the rapture, because of a tragedy, because the world is ending—answers vary from character to character). It’s about family, grief, trauma, religion and intimacy. It’s a violent series that does not give up answers easily. And on Sunday night, it completed the most powerful season of television all year, if you ask me (and a few other critics, like Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall).

    I had high hopes when I saw that the series was getting a black family, because I knew that if the show stayed true to itself, this would be a black family like no other on television. If Lindelof and his writers were going to treat the Murphys as they had the Garveys, the white family headed by Justin Theroux’s Kevin at the center of the first season, then no one—not the Johnsons on “black- ish,” not the Popes on “Scandal,” not the Calloways on “Survivors’ Remorse,” or the Lyons of “Empire” (though all fascinating and entertaining in their own unique ways) would compare. And I was right. With the introduction of the Murphys (Kevin Carroll as John, Regina King as Erika, Jasmin Savoy Brown as Evie and Jovan Adepo as Michael), as well as a few other black characters like Darius McCrary’s Isaac, Lindelof continues on in some of the work that the writers and creators of these other shows have started—that is to say, he continues the work of redefining the black family next door on TV, but he does so with a world and with a set of characters that are so out of this world, they’re more comparable to people I’ve only seen in the pages of great works like “Paradise,” “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved.”

    http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/how-a-black-family-brought-exquisite-toni-morrison-vibes-to-the-leftovers-20151210

    Reply
  32. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 10, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    On my way to the eye doctor. BBL.

    Reply
  33. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 1:01 pm

    January 2016 cover, folks!

    Viola Davis

    Reply
  34. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 11:52 am
    Reply
  35. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 11:34 am

    Here you go, Liza. Your dose of Borowitz for this week!

    Study: Scalia Better Off in “Less Advanced” Court
    By Andy Borowitz

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A new study conducted by legal scholars indicates that Justice Antonin Scalia would fare better if he served as a judge at a court that was “less advanced” than the United States Supreme Court.

    According to the study, Scalia’s struggles to perform his duties in a competent fashion stem from his being inappropriately placed on a court that is “too demanding” for a person of his limited abilities.

    “Forcing Justice Scalia to weigh in on complex legal issues that he lacks the background or aptitude to comprehend is, at the end of the day, cruel,” the study said.

    The legal scholars theorized that Scalia would be more likely to thrive in a “lesser court where he does not feel that he is being pushed to hear cases that are too challenging for him.”

    “If Scalia were reassigned to a ‘slow track’ institution such as a town traffic court, that would be better for everyone,” the study recommended.

    http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/study-scalia-better-off-in-less-advanced-court?mbid=nl_121015_Borowitz_Report&CNDID=24441272&spMailingID=8335723&spUserID=MjczNzc1MzAwMzUS1&spJobID=821124205&spReportId=ODIxMTI0MjA1S0

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      December 10, 2015 at 5:39 pm

      Ha ha. Borowitz is right again, but even a town traffic court is too advanced for Scalia, IMHO. There just isn’t a whole lot happening between his ears.

      Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 10:53 am

    Ta-Nehisi Coates ✔ @tanehisicoates
    Holtzclaw story is damning illustration of the lack of police legitimacy in our communities. Wow. http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/daniel-holtzclaw-women-in-their-ow#.tx9yV2NWL …

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 10:52 am

    The Negrotiator™ @JudusMaximus
    “All the haters they want black to crack, but I’m yelling 2 Termz I went back to back!!” #FLOTUSBars https://twitter.com/JudusMaximus/status/674980121825181696 …

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 10:49 am

    Jesse Sparks @JesseASparks
    #FLOTUSBars and #StayMadAbby are just two more reasons why I love my people.

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:15 am

    5 Reasons White Working-Class Voters Are So Scared
    December 7, 2015 6:00 am

    Why do data journalists keep missing the political story of the year?

    That’s the challenge posed by the Washington Post‘s Dave Weigel to FiveThirtyEight‘s Nate Silver and The Upshot’s Nate Cohn, two key numbers maestros who have continually predicted the demise — or understated the rise — of Donald Trump.

    The political story of the year is that Trump has consolidated non-college educated white Republican voters in a way nobody expected could happen. His appeal is driven largely by these voters’ anxieties, manifested as racism and xenophobia.

    We see this in the way his campaign lifted off after his attacks on Mexico and Mexican immigrants in his announcement speech. And his further ascent, which comes after weeks of lying about “thousands and thousands” of American Muslims celebrating 9/11.

    http://www.nationalmemo.com/5-reasons-white-working-class-voters-are-so-scared/

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      December 10, 2015 at 9:45 am

      Oldest trick in the book to turn the table on these greasy headed white fools, by telling them it’s the BLACKS or OTHERS FAULT you’re in the FUCKED UP state you’re in!

      This is why White folks like them and that Abby chick ranting about not getting into a university REMAIN IN A STATE OF WHITE MEDIOCRITY. They continue to buy into the LIE, not take responsibility, cling to that whiteness and delusional privilege, and REMAIN IGNORANT, FEARFUL, PEARL-CLUTCHING FAILURES.

      Reply
  47. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:14 am

    WELL?

    Reply
  49. Ametia says:
    December 10, 2015 at 9:10 am

    The NRA has infiltrated our colleges and universities with fear, violence, and death.

    Liberty University to allow guns in residence halls

    LYNCHBURG, Va. — Liberty University will soon end a rule that prohibits students from bringing firearms into residence halls, the school’s president said Wednesday in what he described as a measure to increase campus safety.

    President Jerry Falwell Jr. made the announcement here to a gathering of several thousand students at the evangelical Christian school, drawing heavy applause. On Friday, Falwell had urged eligible students to get training from school authorities to enable them to obtain a permit to carry concealed weapons.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/12/09/liberty-university-to-allow-guns-in-residence-halls/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:50 am

    HBCU Digest @HBCUDigest
    Morehouse’s Prince Abudu named international Rhodes scholar. http://ln.is/hbcudigest.com/blog/pqhpH …

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:40 am

    Rubio’s curious approach to time management
    12/10/15 08:40 AM—UPDATED 12/10/15 09:22 AM
    By Steve Benen
    A few months ago, Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) habit of skipping work became a topic of conversation in the Republican presidential race. The Florida senator, more than any of his congressional colleagues, had effectively given up on actually being a senator, prompting some – including many in his home state – to suggest Rubio give up his seat to focus on his national campaign.

    Soon after, the story fizzled, in large part because the Republican had a credible response to the criticism: senators who run for president always miss a lot of work because they need to spend so much time on the campaign trail, especially in states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

    And while that’s a compelling explanation on the surface, in Rubio’s case, there’s a slight problem: he’s largely ignoring his day job and he’s not spending much time in the early nominating states. As Rachel noted on the show last night, National Review published an interesting piece yesterday out of Iowa:
    In recent conversations with nearly a dozen unaffiliated Iowa GOP veterans, a consensus has emerged across the party’s ideological spectrum: The state’s caucus-goers are interested in Rubio, but his infrequent appearances and paltry field operation leave lingering doubts as to whether he is interested in them.

    “It doesn’t seem like he really wants to win Iowa,” says Craig Robinson, the state party’s former executive director, who is now editor of The Iowa Republican. “Of all the campaigns, he’s probably done the least of getting around the state. There are plenty of people who would love to vote for him…. But I hear more excitement on the ground in Iowa about Chris Christie than I do about Marco Rubio. And it shouldn’t be that way.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rubios-curious-approach-time-management

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:37 am

    I will not link to Fox, but here’s their latest poll results.

    And, I will continue to say this…

    THIS IS WHO THEY ARE!

    The problem is NOT Donald Trump. The problem for the GOP is that even if he is a Manchurian Candidate for Hillary…..

    He is speaking the language of NOT a ‘sliver’ of the GOP..
    But the GOP MAINSTREAM…

    Because….say it with me..

    THIS IS WHO THEY ARE.

    ……………………………………………………………………..

    Fox News has released the results of a new survey of Republican primary voters in South Carolina, which shows Trump with 35% support, far ahead of Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, who are each about 20 points behind the frontrunner.

    …………………………………………..

    The poll, released Wednesday, was conducted Saturday through Tuesday evenings. Trump made provocative remarks Monday about barring Muslims from entering the United States.


    It looks like his comments help him in South Carolina. Support for Trump increased eight points after his statement — from 30 percent the first two nights vs. 38 percent the last two nights.

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:31 am

    They peddle in it. Don’t you remember the color charts?

    ……………..

    Thursday, December 10, 2015

    Living in Fear

    No one does a take-down better than Charles Pierce. Yesterday he took aim at a discussion on Morning Joe (he calls the hosts “Squint and the Meat Puppet”). Apparently while pontificating about President Obama’s “tepid” response to the events in Paris and San Bernardino, the group engaged in some pearl-clutching about how the President’s response had failed to calm their children’s fears about terrorism. Pierce’s point was that “it is the height of journalistic cowardice to attack the president behind your children.” By way of contrast, he offered this:

    Every day, there are kids on the west side of Chicago who go to school with gunfire in the background. There are kids in the Mississippi Delta who go to school hungry, and who are sick with preventable diseases. There are kids in Appalachia who are sick because good dental care is unavailable to them. There are kids in Israel, and on the West Bank, in Somalia, and all over the world who get up every day with actual war being made all around them.The juxtaposition of the pundit’s “journalistic cowardice” with children who actually suffer from fear and deprivation every day reminded me of a Charles Barkley skit on SNL a few years ago about “White People Problems.” I don’t mean to make light of the pain and suffering felt by the loved ones of those killed and injured in Paris and San Bernardino. But perhaps the hosts and guests on Morning Joe could point out to their children that they are no more likely to be killed by a terrorist than they are to be crushed to death by collapsing furniture.

    Seriously, this fear-mongering has gotten out of control.

    http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/12/living-in-fear.html

    Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:30 am

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    Taraji P. Henson’s Audition for Cookie Lyon

    The Late Late Show with James Corden

    https://youtu.be/xRLoQNT4uNA

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:26 am

    I love The Flash.

    And, the wonderful humanity that Jesse L. Martin brings to the show cannot be beat. He roots the show with a sincerity that cannot be faked. I admit..I got a lump in my throat in that final scene with Barry this week.

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:15 am

    PragmaticObotsUnite @PragObots
    Not only has the media been silent about the #DanielHoltzclaw rape case, women’s groups have also been silent.

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:10 am

    Scalia makes racially charged argument in affirmative-action case
    12/09/15 03:45 PM—UPDATED 12/09/15 05:05 PM
    facebook twitter 6 save share group 55
    By Steve Benen
    About a month ago, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke to first-year law students at Georgetown, where he drew a parallel between gay people, pedophiles, and child abusers. What would he do for an encore?

    This morning, the high court heard oral arguments in a Texas case on affirmative action and the use of race in college admissions, and NBC News reported that Scalia “questioned whether some minority students are harmed by the policy because it helped them gain admittance to schools where they might not be able to academically compete.”

    At first blush, that sounds pretty racist, so let’s check the official transcript:
    “There are – there are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to ­­ to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less­-advanced school, a less – a slower-track school where they do well.

    “One of – one of the briefs pointed out that – that most of the – most of the black scientists in this country don’t come from schools like the University of Texas. They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re – that they’re being pushed ahead in – in classes that are too ­­ too fast for them.”
    If we were to go out of our way to be charitable, I suppose we could emphasize the fact that Scalia prefaced these comments by saying “there are those who contend.” In other words, maybe the far-right justice himself isn’t making such an ugly argument, so much as the justice is referencing an offensive argument from unnamed others?

    It is, to be sure, a stretch. At no point did Scalia say he disagrees with “those who contend” that African-American students who struggle at good universities and are better off at “a slower-track school.”

    David Plouffe, a former aide to President Obama, highlighted Scalia’s quote this afternoon and asked a pertinent question: “Motivation lacking for 2016?”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/scalia-makes-racially-charged-argument-affirmative-action-case

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 8:08 am

    This is what you call TWITTER TRUTH!

    NoChillMood @ritaag
    @lawalazu Its funny how they are all shocked today when they looked the other way when Trump was going full birther on PBO

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    LEST WE FORGET nothing Trump is saying is different from any of the other GOP candidates or Ryan and others in DC. They all feel the same.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    So, don’t let the media try to paint any of them better than Trump, not that I give a whit about Trump. You hear one GOP, you here all.

    Trump’s sin was that he said aloud what they say in private, insinuate, encourage their base to spew. All he did was expose all of them.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    So, if you believe that suddenly Ryan or any of those publicly disagreeing with Trump is being anything but disingenuous, bite me.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    What I reject is the media trying to manipulate us to think that GOP is not in lockstep in their hate.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    You will recall that it is the same MSM & GOP that showed no outrage when Trump went on a campaign to sully PBO. MSM gave him a platform.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    So, color me unimpressed when Brokaw came out to condemn Trump recently. Where was he when Trump began testing the waters w/lies abt PBO?

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    My thought is that without MSM, Trump would not be spewing his bile. But because of GOP, he is able to. They all think the same way.

    KSK(africa) @lawalazu
    MSM has been a full partner in GOP ugliness, not to mention Trump’s rise. Watch how they cover domestic terrorism.

    Reply
  63. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 7:51 am

    because this is who they are:

    Public Policy Polling published results yesterday on GOP voters’ attitudes in North Carolina. Among the findings:

    * 48% of North Carolina Republicans endorse the idea of a national database of Muslims.

    * 42% of North Carolina Republicans believed thousands of Middle Easterners cheered in New Jersey on 9/11.

    * 35% of North Carolina Republicans support shutting down American mosques.

    * 32% of North Carolina Republicans believe practicing Islam in the United States should be illegal.

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 7:50 am

    Trump spokesperson: ‘So what? They’re Muslim’
    12/09/15 12:54 PM

    By Steve Benen
    Katrina Pierson, a spokesperson for Donald Trump’s campaign, argued this morning on CNN that her boss’ proposed Muslim ban has merit because “never in United States history have we allowed insurgents to come across these borders.” Reminded that Trump’s policy would block lots of peaceful people who have nothing to do with violence, the spokesperson was unmoved.

    “So what?” Pierson replied. “They’re Muslim.”

    Jeb Bush told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd yesterday that the Trump campaign is relying on “dog-whistle proposals to prey on people’s fears.” That’s half-right – Trump is clearly preying on people’s fears, but these aren’t “dog-whistle proposals”; they’re the exact opposite. The whole point of dog-whistle politics is subtlety and coded language. Trump’s racism, however, is explicit and overt. “So what? They’re Muslim” is less of a dog whistle and more of a bullhorn.

    Republican officials would love dog-whistle politics. If they were really lucky, Trump’s bigotry would be understated and built entirely around insinuation. But that’s plainly not the case.

    The question – one of them, anyway – is whether this will help or hurt the Republican frontrunner. BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray took the conservative movement’s temperature yesterday by listening to talk radio.
    Conservative talk radio hosts didn’t endorse Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigration on Tuesday – but they certainly didn’t condemn him and almost uniformly refrained from criticizing him or his plan.

    Talk radio heavyweights Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin showed different levels of sympathy for Trump’s idea on Tuesday.
    Ingraham seemed the most critical, Levin the most sympathetic.
    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-spokesperson-so-what-theyre-muslim

    Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 7:48 am

    GOP timid in condemning Trump anti-Muslim plan
    Rachel Maddow shares some early polling that shows Republican primary voters responding favorably to Donald Trump’s proposed block on Muslims entering the U.S., and Republican politicians not ruling out supporting Donald Trump as the party’s nominee or comparing their own policy ideas favorably to his

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/gop-timid-in-condemning-trump-anti-muslim-plan-583308355883

    Reply
  67. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    December 10, 2015 at 7:18 am

    http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/11/26/arts/26artist-marshall-untitled/26artist-marshall-untitled-articleLarge.jpg
    “Kerry James Marshall’s “Untitled (Studio)” (2014). Credit 2015 The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Kerry James Marshall”

    Great article:

    Black Artists and the March Into the Museum
    After decades of spotty acquisitions and token exhibitions, American museums are rewriting the
    history of 20th-century art to include black artists.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/arts/design/black-artists-and-the-march-into-the-museum.html?_r=0

    Reply
  68. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    December 10, 2015 at 6:59 am

    “This extended version of an earlier video offers a more in-depth look at the life and art of the extraordinary artist, Eldzier Cortor, who made a recent gift to the Art Institute: a painting, 30 prints, and several printing matrices.” —–>

    https://youtu.be/wnmLVKwJmXo&rel=0

    “Eldzier Cortor, Painter of Scenes From African-American Social Life, Dies at 99”
    NOV. 27, 2015

    Excerpt:

    Eldzier Cortor, a painter and printmaker perhaps best known for his elegant paintings of nude black women created when such works were seldom seen in the mainstream art world, died on Thursday at his son’s home in Seaford, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 99.

    As a young man, Mr. Cortor studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and was employed by the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project, created in 1935 as part of the New Deal to support artists.

    He was “charged with depicting scenes of African-American social life in the slums of Chicago’s South Side,” according to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which awarded him an unrelated fellowship in 1949. With money from the W.P.A., he helped found the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

    Around 1950, Mr. Cortor moved to New York City’s Lower East Side, where he lived for the rest of his life.

    One of his first moments of popular recognition came in 1946, when Life magazine published one of his figures, a seminude woman. He received prestigious fellowships — including the Guggenheim, which allowed him to travel to Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti, where he was exposed to new examples of art and culture in the African diaspora….

    Until the day he died, his son said, Mr. Cortor was still painting.

    “The idea is to get someone to pause awhile” instead of walking past a picture. Mr. Cortor said in the recent interview. “You try to just get them to stay with that painting for a while, you don’t just burst past it there. And that’s the idea. If you can get someone, to catch their eye a little bit.”

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  69. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    December 10, 2015 at 6:32 am

    New Book:

    ”Exploring Freedom Through African-American Images”

    https://today.duke.edu/2015/12/cobb

    In the book, Cobb examines lithographs, daguerrotypes, cartoons and other images from popular culture. She considers how the various pictures enabled and hindered ideas about black citizenship in the years before emancipation.

    The images vary dramatically in style and intent. Among the book’s most sobering images are advertisements by slaveowners seeking to recapture African-American fugitives from slavery. At the opposite pole, Cobb includes self-portraits commissioned by 19th-century African-Americans, daguerreotypes in which free African-American women appear in fashionable formal attire.

    http://today.duke.edu/sites/default/files/cobb580.jpg
    ”Professor Jasmine Cobb used 19th century portraits to trace the emergence of Black freedom. Photo by Megan Mendenhall/Duke Photography”

    Reply
  70. rikyrah says:
    December 10, 2015 at 5:25 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply

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