Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is a Christmas holiday song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. The song was written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry along with Phil Spector, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Love’s signature tunes.
In December 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” first on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs, saying that “nobody can match Love’s emotion and sheer vocal power.”
https://twitter.com/gregoryin07/status/667538708996993025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Patti Labelle, LA Reid, Lee Daniels among BET honorees
ATLANTA
Legendary singer Patti Labelle and veteran music executive L.A. Reid will be honored at the 2016 BET Honors.
The network announced Tuesday that filmmaker Lee Daniels, former U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder and businesswoman Mellody Hobson will also get tributes at the event. The show will take place at the Warner Theatre in Washington on Jan. 23.
The special will air Feb. 23.
BET Honors highlights African Americans performing at top levels in the areas of entertainment, literature, business, education and more.
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/entertainment/celebrities/article49820520.html#storylink=cpy
https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/676785423306256385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/nutribemagazine/status/676832017946771456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
December 15, 2015 12:00 PM
Conservatives: Same As They Ever Were
By Martin Longman
Over dinner last night, my brother Phil and I were trying to figure out how much of what we’re seeing from the modern Republican Party is new and how much has been been baked in the cake for a long time. I tried to get Phil to engage in a thought experiment, which was to imagine that Dwight D. Eisenhower had not won the 1952 nomination and had never been president. The premise of my case was that it was really only the interlude of Eisenhower that gave us the illusion that the Republican Party was a reliable partner on governance and that if the GOP had not had that experience, we would not have had a golden age of bipartisan consensus in Washington DC.
Phil and I wound up getting bogged down in a debate over the true nature of Robert Taft and other tangential matters, so we never really explored my idea.
But I went back to the hotel and started looking into a couple of things. The first thing I did was to look up the Republican Platform from the 1952 convention. I’ll post it below so you can take a look at as much of it as you can take.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_12/conservatives_same_as_they_eve058985.php
the department of fear is winning
By Liberal Librarian
Let’s not fool ourselves. Fear is winning.
The Los Angeles Unified School District received a threat against its schools. Today it proceeded to shut them all down out of an “abundance of caution”, that term with which we’ve become so familiar. Seven hundred thousand students have been locked out of their schools based on a threat which New York City public schools also received, but which the NYPD determined to be a hoax. Hundreds of thousands of students disrupted from their routine has a ripple effect, forcing parents to stay home, affecting the economy.
I’m old enough to remember when Osama bin Laden said that his strategy was to bankrupt America by making it do stupid things. Although he sleeps with the fishes, his successors seem to be sticking to that strategy.
It doesn’t help that fear isn’t being stoked solely by jihadists. Our politicians on the Right are quite content to go along with stoking that fear, seeing it as a sure road to victory in 2016. So what if the country becomes a shell of what it was? So what if hate crimes spike as a terrified populace searches for scapegoats? None of that matters. All that matters is that they terrify the electorate into voting for a party which thrives on nothing but fear, as it has no other program on which to run.
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/12/15/the-department-of-fear-is-winning/
SIX REASONS WHY SERENA’S SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR HONOR IS THE BLACKEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED THIS WEEK
Damon Young, 12/14/15
1. Because Serena’s cover effectively turned Sports Illustrated into a late-90s King Magazine. My goodness.
2. Fortunately for men currently in relationships with women, Serena Williams also happens to be one of the few women it’s acceptable to, well, openly “appreciate.” (Basically, if you get caught liking an Instagram “model’s” picture, you might catch a sideeye. You get caught liking a Serena pic, you might catch a request that you share the pic with her too.) And since both Black men and Black women can find some common ground with her, Serena’s success helps promote Black love.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/six-reasons-why-serenas-sportsperson-of-the-year-honor-is-the-blackest-thing-that-ever-happened-this-week/
this site is crazy..LOL
BLACK WOMEN LOVE DRAKE BECAUSE HE REMINDS THEM OF JESUS
Damon Young, 12/14/15
Last week, Esquire Magazine revealed that scientists have “discovered” the face of Jesus. Using forensic anthropology, a group of British scientists and Israeli archeologists determined that Jesus most likely looked how…men from the part of the world he was from tend to look. (Duh!) A stark contrast from the blue eyed Jesus with long blond hair found in many artist’s depictions. (And, ironically, the real Jesus looks exactly like the men millions of American Christians are intent on not allowing in this country today.)
He also kinda, sorta, kinda — if you squint your eyes (and you have lemon juice in your eyes) — looks like Drake. A swarthy Drake who worked as a carpenter instead of a child actor on a melodramatic Canadian teen series, but Drake nonetheless. Which comes as no surprise. Because, for Drake’s hundreds of thousands of Black female fans, his appeal derives from the fact that he reminds them of Jesus.
Well actually, this isn’t a fact, perse. More like a single-person (Me!) held theory; albeit one I’ve had for some time. For almost a decade now, part-time American cultural anthropologists like me have been attempting to determine the source of Drake’s appeal. And while my colleagues have repeatedly come up blank, I believe that the Drake affinity mirrors the affinity this demographic generally has for the Son of God. Because Drake does, says, and is many things Jesus would have done, would have said, and is.
Oh, you need examples? Great, because I have many. But because I can feel everyone’s heads spinning right now, I’ll only list five.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/black-women-love-drake-because-he-reminds-them-of-jesus/
https://twitter.com/TheNiksTape/status/676467816971792385/photo/1
https://twitter.com/bet/status/676854342402580481
https://twitter.com/BaltoSpectator/status/676846134917267456
That’s Caucanese for..
Barack Obama, you pretty m—-ph—!
https://twitter.com/nationaljournal/status/676821360195330048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
it hurt them to write this article.
YOU KNOW IT DID!!!
http://binaryapi.ap.org/82864a2430734825b1a1abb1b49b1428/460x.jpg
http://bigstory.ap.org/23c21a5fc8b846169384f303360f86fc
On this day in 1896 Julia Hammons received a patent for her invention of an apparatus for holding skeins of yarn.
https://i0.wp.com/patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pages/US572985-0.png
Excerpt from the description:
Have we not all been saying this?
………………………….
It’s time to face the fact that Republican voters are far enough into this process that they know what they’re getting with Trump, and they’ve decided that they like it, more and more all the time. What I’m genuinely perplexed by, though, is how it’s going to change the Republican Party — how it’s going to change what counts as normal and acceptable in that party — to have Trump as its standard-bearer.
Rachel Maddow: A leading presidential candidate embracing the fringe? That’s nuts — and new.
How Erykah Badu Became A Doula & Now Helps Hospice Patients Have the Last Laugh
Erykah Badu is on an intergalactic trip
Her mixtape But You Cain’t Use My Phone, which dropped after Thanksgiving, has us craving for her next album like how the crackhead Bubbles from The Wire craved his next fix. The soulful, eargasmic project gives listeners a glimpse of Erykah’s spirit, which we also got a peak of during her Pitchfork interview where she talked about life and death.
You see, not only is Erykah a doula, she also plays music for nursing home patients nearing their final days. Or as she puts it, she’s part of both the “welcoming and ushering committees.”
Here are a few interesting facts about Erykah Badoula’s training as a midwife that you may not have known:
http://xonecole.com/how-erykah-badu-became-a-doula-now-helps-hospice-patients-have-the-last-laugh/
CNN interviewed Muslim hater Franklin Graham to ask him if Islam is compatible with American values. You can’t make this ISH up. They are straight up inciting the racist bigots in this country. If you want to know about Islam, why not ASK a Muslim? It’s not rocket science!
There are over a billion Muslims…
yeah, they could find one, of all ranges of the faith, from liberal to conservative.
THEY.DON’T.WANT.TO.
It’s all part of the lead up to tonight’s debate. They are setting the stage for more GOP foreign policy-scare tactics and fuckery
UH HUH
………….
CNN breaks own rules to elevate Rand Paul’s debate spot
Rachel Maddow explains how CNN disregarded its own rules for qualifying for the main stage at Tuesday’s Republican primary debate and allowed Rand Paul to move up from the kids’ table even though he doesn’t have the poll numbers to qualify.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cnn-breaks-own-rules-to-give-paul-debate-spot-585969219717
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/676724085322342400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Congrats to The Wiz for it’s 5 Critics Choice Awards Nominations
Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series
Shanice Williams – The Wiz Live
Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series
The Wiz Live
Best Supporting Actor in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series
Ne-Yo
David Alan Grier
Best Supporting Actress in a Movie Made for Televison or Limited Series
Mary J Blige
http://www.aetv.com/shows/the-21st-annual-critics-choice-awards/exclusives/nominees
https://twitter.com/Gistoffreedom/status/676563874938777600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/sonsandbros/status/676469337201311745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/DarthShada/status/676571833458491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Beautiful. This pic’s going in my scrapbook
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2934/1262/original.jpg
Tell it Viola. And you can still LOOK GOOD.
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/2934/1949/original.jpg
https://twitter.com/10NewsJason/status/676779337471913985
http://media.vogue.com/r/w_480/2015/12/02/duro-olowu-holiday-white-house-decaorations.jpg
https://twitter.com/10NewsJason/status/676777319432921088
https://twitter.com/THEKIDMERO/status/676595857463058432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/KeeganNYC/status/676561197186072577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://youtu.be/B1plTP2WiNs
https://twitter.com/BBCAMERICA/status/676582533392240640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/676758230677258240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
what are the odds he’s taken ALIVE?
Just in time for the GOP debates tonight. and not one mention of DOMESTIC TERRORISM committed by ANGRY WHITE MEN.
https://twitter.com/BBCOne/status/676748585753436160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This is one evil azz soulless muthaphucka.
period.
h/t BJ
………………………..
Pharma Bro’s Latest Move Targets Latinos
The infamous pharmaceutical executive is jacking up the price of a treatment for Chagas disease, which in the U.S. affects mainly Latin American immigrants.
After dropping $2 million on a Wu-Tang Clan album, the pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has found a new project: making an essential treatment unaffordable for poor immigrants from Latin America.
Shkreli, otherwise known as “pharma bro,” gained notoriety earlier this year when his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, increased the price of a drug used to treat AIDS patients from around $13.50 to $750. He’s now the CEO of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, which recently announced its plans to submit benznidazole, a treatment for Chagas disease purchased earlier this month, for Food and Drug Administration approval next year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 300,000 people in the United States have the deadly disease. Most of them are immigrants from Latin America, where as many as 8 million people are infected
………………….
Right now, doctors in the U.S. obtain benznidazole free of charge through the CDC. According to Rachel Cohen, the regional executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative in North America, the drug sells in Latin America for somewhere between $60 and $100 for each course of treatment. Both of these would change the moment the FDA approved benznidazole from any company—and Shkreli, in particular, seems determined to price this drug out of reach of the people who need it. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, KaloBios wrote that it expects to price the Chagas drug similarly to antivirals for Hepatitis C, which can cost almost $100,000 for a single course of treatment in the United States.
“You’re talking about a 100,000 percent or 150,000 percent price increase” from the current cost in Latin America, Cohen said.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/12/pharma-bro-martin-shkreli-chagas-fda/420249/
Eugene Robinson is COONIN’, SKININ’, & GRINNIN for Joe & Mika this morning.
Rubio’s ‘pioneer’ boasts crumble under scrutiny
12/14/15 04:39 PM
By Steve Benen
When Marco Rubio recently spoke to the Jewish Republican Coalition’s presidential forum, he joined all of his GOP rivals in saying nice things about Israel. But the Florida Republican went a little further than most, making a specific claim about his state legislative record. The Tampa Bay Times took a closer look.
“As Speaker of the Florida House,” he said, “I pioneered what became a national effort by requiring the Florida pension program to divest from companies linked to Iran’s terrorist regime.”
It was groundbreaking, but Rubio had nothing to do with creation of the legislation.
There was, in fact, a divestment bill that passed Florida’s legislature, but it was written by a Democrat before passing unanimously. Rubio, as the Republican leader in the House, allowed the bill to come to the floor, but he didn’t “pioneer” the policy. He doesn’t appear to have had anything to do with its creation at all.
Whether the Florida Republican was trying to deceive his audience or whether Rubio simply exaggerated the story in his mind is unclear. But errors like these are emblematic of two problems that represent a distraction for the senator’s presidential campaign.
The first is that Rubio, despite his background as a career politician – he won his sixth election the year he turned 40 – has no real accomplishments to his name. This creates an awkward dynamic in which the GOP lawmaker struggles to brag about his own record, and in the case of the Jewish Republican Coalition’s event, it apparently led him to embellish that record with an accomplishment that was not his own.
The second problem is that this is not the first time Rubio delivered a speech in which he flubbed substantive details in a brazenly misleading way. The week before his “pioneering” fib, for example, Rubio misled an audience about the scope of U.S. surveillance powers.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/rubios-pioneer-boasts-crumble-under-scrutiny
SMGDH- Who are these gun NUTS preparing for? DYLAN ROOF
California church members train to carry concealed guns
CBS NEWS December 15, 2015, 7:41 AM
God-fearing and gun-toting, a group of ministers and church security personnel training in California’s Sierra foothills were invited to the gun range in Placerville by gun safety instructor Geof Peabody.
Peabody offers the class free to members of any church, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. He said he has trained more than 500 people in the last eight years. His graduates qualify to carry concealed weapons, and many do so in church.
“Does it seem to go against the sanctity of the church in any way to bring a gun into church?” Blackstone asked.
“Not at all, not at all,” said Bruce Shoff, who serves on a security team at his church. “The Bible tells us to be our brother’s protector…it’s just another tool.”
Micah Anderson leads the youth ministry at his church.
“The drive behind it is so I can protect myself and my family,” Anderson said. “The fact that I also work at the church and serve in that way, is just an added benefit.”
Many of these trainees said they’ve become more focused with each new mass shooting. They know churches have been targeted, most recently this past June, when nine members of a Bible study group were killed in South Carolina.
“Crazy things happen day in and day out,” Anderson said.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-pastors-church-members-train-to-carry-concealed-weapons/
Jesus stopped Peter when Peter pulled out his sword:
Matthew 26:52
https://twitter.com/ifaz90/status/676663120811663360/photo/1
This hate needs to STOP!
Liberal Hispanic activists assail Rubio, Cruz as ‘traitors’ to their culture
By Mary Jordan December 15 at 6:53 AM
Liberal Hispanic groups have launched a new campaign designed to turn Latino voters against the two Cuban American Republicans who have risen to the top tier of the GOP presidential field — assailing Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as traitors to their own culture.
Radio and online ads, social media posts and public discussions with Hispanic leaders in swing states are accusing Cruz and Rubio, senators from Texas and Florida, respectively, of fighting against immigration reforms, a minimum wage increase and other changes that millions of Latinos support. Many of the ads equate the two candidates to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, whose sharp rhetoric on immigration has until now drawn most of the attention of Hispanic activists.
“It’s not comfortable for us to do this, to call out members of our own community who don’t reflect our community values, but we have no choice,” said Cristóbal Alex, president of the Democratic-backed Latino Victory Project.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/liberal-hispanic-activists-assail-rubio-cruz-as-traitors-to-their-culture/2015/12/15/9bcca938-a317-11e5-b53d-972e2751f433_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_politics
Glad that they noticed that they are Latino slave catchers
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning Rikyrah and Everyone :)
http://www.crystaltreehoa.com/_images/_homepage/_winter/kidsSledding.GIF
Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone. :)))))
Good morning, everyone.