Friday Open Thread | Johnny Mathis Week

Posted on April 22, 2016 by rikyrah

TGIF

Johnny Mathis interviews & more!

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74 Responses to Friday Open Thread | Johnny Mathis Week

  3. eliihass says:
    April 22, 2016 at 5:45 pm

    SG,

    I meant to say this after reading some of your tweets about Donna Edwards …

    Isn’t it funny that in the midst of all the faux outcry over how few women we have in Congress and in government, that the Democratic party is essentially backing yet another white guy to replace the longest-serving woman in the Senate…?

    Shame on Donna for being black…she should have at least tried to have one non-black parent…that might have made her more worthy …and more ‘appealing’…

    They can’t possibly argue that this is about seniority or that Chris Van Hollen having been around Congress longer than Donna Edwards, somehow deserves it more…Because if that were the argument, the Democratic party would not have cleared the field in California – including beating back and passing over longtime Congress folk like Barbara Lee, Karen Bass, Adam Schiff etc. who have all waited patiently all these years for an opening and a chance to have a go at the Senate, only to be told to step aside for Kamala Harris…

    At some point, our party has got to confront its dysfunction, corruption and double standards – and the unethical and unfair practices that not only rig the process for a chosen few, but completely excludes and puts at a great disadvantage a huge swath of regular Democrats, and black politicians like Donna Edwards…

    I hope Donna Edwards – and more than a few others, open their eyes and get a clue…The so-called fight to get more women elected, only applies to a select and chosen few…And it looks like it all starts with having at least one non-black parent to begin with…that obviously makes one that more ‘palatable, more ‘appealing’ and more ‘acceptable’ in a country where claiming a mix of something to your black, automatically elevates you in the racial hierarchy…Unfortunately, there’s not much one can do about this…unless of course, one wants to claim a non-existent white grandma like Harold Ford…

    Reply
  4. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 22, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    My youngest boy and his girlfriend are taking me out to eat at Boudreaux’s Cajun Kitchen a little later on. Yay!

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    As Mama would say – there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

    https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/723231476490350592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      April 22, 2016 at 1:47 pm

      Jetlag…

      And I just realized that poor FLOTUS has to be back in the States and in Mississippi for her for her commencement speech tomorrow at Jackson State University…

      Reply
  26. Ametia says:
    April 22, 2016 at 10:13 am

    Ok, Eillihaas and ladies, UNPACK.THIS

    Hey, Berniacs: I Learned to Love Hillary and So Can You
    Jon Favreau

    An Obama 2008 veteran, who’s been on a campaign that was in a position similar to Clinton’s and that had to reconcile with Clinton, offers his thoughts.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/22/hey-berniacs-i-learned-to-love-hillary-and-so-can-you.html?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      April 22, 2016 at 12:40 pm

      Nothing to unpack really Ametia…

      They are all nothing but smarmy, political opportunists and self-serving douchebags…they flit from promising politician and campaign to the next…They only ‘defend’ a successful politician like the historic President, when their fortunes are directly tied to his…And they have no qualms trampling over or selling out any former one they might have worked for, once their star dims…

      None of this has much to do with you, me or America (we are merely enabling votes and firewalls) – nor is it even about the President for that matter – except of course to the extent that these political opportunists can exploit their access to him to make a ton of money and wield influence – sell books, work the speech circuit and rack up gigs by the numbers – and only by association…and it’s certainly not about principle, or anything ‘progressive’…This is all about them and them alone…every last one of them is looking to line their pockets and line up their next gig…

      These people just make a living hitching their wagons to successful or potentially successful politicians ..before President Obama, this guy was with John Kerry’s team…until he lost his race…

      This is the same guy who wrote this:

      “…So while I may not have imagined myself saying this a few years ago, I certainly believe it now: It’s far more important to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016 than it was to elect Barack Obama in 2008…”

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/22/hey-berniacs-i-learned-to-love-hillary-and-so-can-you.html?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning

      The idea that this silly douch-ey, self-serving person is so deluded and so ridiculously and arrogantly presumptuous to believe that we weren’t capable of deciphering for ourselves an unscrupulous and self-serving candidate in 2008 – and now…And that they – he and the rest of the lot of them who fancy themselves in possession of some special political insight and heft…that they were the ones who ‘turned us against’ Hillary in 2008…and can somehow now turn us back to her like sheeple…is nothing short of egotism run wild and hubris at its worst…

      This Jon Favreau guy just happens to be one of those I find particularly irritating and off-putting…I’d venture to say that before I even got wind of their shenanigans, I always thought him quite juvenile and so douch-ey…I must confess that when we started to see and hear from some of the folks I was quite taken aback by how petty, shallow, flippant, lightweight and unimpressive they were…

      These are not good or caring or selfless folks…these are folks with their own agenda…They are cohorts and part of that Robert Gibbs and Reid Cherlin ilk…the ones who cussed out and put out hit pieces against the historic black First Lady…

      I’ve shared my thoughts about these folks again and again over the years …in my opinion, they are just as despicable, dubious and insidiously racist in their actions and points of view – and even worse in some instances – than some right-wingers…the fact that they hitched their wagons and fortunes to the historic President notwithstanding…As my wise mama has always exhorted, keep your eyes peeled and focus on how they respond to and treat the black First Lady…that remains the truest and most reliable litmus test of who these folks really are…

      For a long time, I actually wanted to believe that even with their brazen disrespect and wanton disregard of the historic first black First Lady, that they at least thought enough of the President – her husband – whose presidential political career they all opportunistically insinuated themselves into..

      But how do you claim political savvy – or claim to respect the principal of the historic campaign and the historic presidency you worked for, when you fail to protect or understand the importance of preserving some mystery and the sanctity – especially with regard to the sausage-making that went into some of the key speeches that marked his rise – by flippantly divulging the process – taking away the mystery and heft from said speeches – thereby diminishing the speeches and the principal himself…while taking quite a chunk of credit for yourself..

      He wrote this for New York magazine a few months ago:

      “…I started writing speeches for John Kerry when I was 21. And I basically only got the job because I was a press assistant on the campaign, and we were losing to Howard Dean, and the campaign was running out of money and there was a big shake-up and all these people got fired, and they needed a deputy speechwriter and at that point they couldn’t really afford to hire a real one. No one really wanted to join what looked like a sinking ship.

      I met with Obama after Kerry lost and Obama won the Senate seat. Robert Gibbs had recruited me for this job because he was my boss when I was with the Kerry campaign. And he’s like, “Look, Obama’s never worked with a speechwriter before in his life — he’s written all his own stuff. But now he’s a senator; he’s going to need to learn to work with someone, whether he likes it or not.”
      So I start with Obama through the Senate, thinking, you know, I had been at the convention when he gave that speech in 2004. That was all him, and that hung over my head the entire time I started writing for him.

      And his first two years in the Senate, I think we wrote some decent speeches together, and then he announced for president, and — it’s hard to remember now — but for most of 2007, he was badly trailing Hillary Clinton. And on the stump, he would go and give 40-, 50-minute speeches in Iowa that were long and sort of rambling and workmanlike….The knock against him was “Oh, she’s all substance and you’re all style.” So to counter that I think Obama went out and tried to show everyone just how smart he was on every issue, and the speeches became very long and involved. And, you know, I’m Mr. Speechwriter in the campaign, and I’m like, “Well, I’m not fixing this, so I’m sort of a failure here.”
      And so now it’s like October of 2007, and there’s literally headlines that say — I had one hanging up from the New York Post that said, “Hillary Ready for Her Coronation.” We were down in Iowa, and our last chance there is the speech that Obama’s giving at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa. A couple of us that had been with the Kerry campaign in 2004 remembered that that was the speech that Kerry gave that sort of turned the race around and helped him beat Dean in Iowa. And so we looked at the speech the same way.

      So you have to deliver a ten-minute speech without a prompter and you have to make your best case for your candidacy. All the pressure was on this speech; everyone was like, “This is our only hope here. Maybe we can pull even with Hillary after this or catch up in the polls.” And because there was so much pressure on it, writing and drafting were impossible — there’s a million conference calls with everyone saying, “Emphasize this, emphasize that.” Me and Ben Rhodes and Adam Frankel probably went through ten, 15 drafts of that speech, staying up till three in the morning, having them rejected the next day by people because everyone was so involved. Obama didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say, and Axelrod didn’t know, and there was all kinds of calls and meetings.

      So what I did is I pretty much wrote a speech that I thought he should give at the JJ. I kind of snuck it in there. But I always remember now: The night that he was on SNL, I had a bunch of people over at my apartment in Chicago. He was supposed to give that speech that I had written, the practice speech, that day. I hadn’t heard how the speech went but I had a bunch of people over at my apartment to look at the SNL skit. It’s like 11, 11:30. And suddenly I get a call from Axelrod and he said, “Obama just gave the speech — totally blew up the place. He loves it and he says that that’s what the JJ needs to be. But the trick is, he needs you to cut this 20-minute speech down to a ten-minute speech so he can start practicing, and he needs you to do it by tomorrow morning.” So I was in my apartment with everyone over, I’ve had a beer or two, but immediately I kick everyone out, I change over to Red Bull and coffee, and I walked down to the campaign at midnight and stayed up all night until about 10 or 11 a.m. the next day, and I wrote the JJ speech. And I finished the draft and for the first time, you know, Obama sees it and he’s like, “I actually don’t have that many edits. I think it’s a pretty good speech.” So he practices that speech, practices memorizing that speech more than I had ever seen him do before, because he’s never really had to memorize a speech word for word. Like when we were at a hotel in Des Moines a couple weeks before the speech, if you walked by Obama’s hotel room you could hear him practicing the speech to himself and the mirror, just trying to memorize it.

      So we get to the JJ, and somehow, by the luck of the draw, the order of the candidates’ speeches was that all the other candidates go first, Hillary goes second to last, and Obama goes last. So all these candidates go, get out of the way. Hillary gives her speech and the crowd’s all quiet for Hillary because she’s obviously the front-runner….then Obama gets up there and he delivered — way better than it was written — the JJ speech. I was sitting there watching all the reporters, and all the reporters were like, “That’s it — that’s the speech. This is something big.” The crowd went completely insane. And it worked out from then on, but the JJ was sort of the first moment that I was like, Okay, I think I might have something to contribute here. I think I can be of use.

      It was also the first time I thought we would win. I mean, when we started, we thought it was a long shot — “Who knows?” …But it didn’t really resonate for me then. Not yet. It didn’t until we won Iowa…”
      http://nymag.com/news/features/beginnings/jon-favreau/

      Reply
      • Ametia says:
        April 22, 2016 at 1:18 pm

        Well, I don’t have to get ready for this TRIP, Eliihaas. You’ve UNPACKED this nonsense VERY WELL. Thanks

        Reply
        • eliihass says:
          April 22, 2016 at 1:44 pm

          LOL…Ametia..

          Sorry for the long and rambling response…I had so much I wanted to include…

          But just know that they ain’t loyal…

          They all try to puff up themselves by planting stories in the media to sell how close, important and relevant they are to the President – and they have no qualms snitching and torpedoing and telling on each other to anyone who cares to listen…LOL..

          “…DeParle and Mastromonaco used to marvel at the some of men who traveled with the President, secretly calling them “moths to a flame.” These men lopped down the steps of Air Force One and got into the waiting limo, assuming they’d be riding with the President.

          If you sat with the President, you had to talk to him—and Mastromonaco and DeParle both worried that he’d be distracted by whatever relatively mundane task they were tackling.

          “We often didn’t want him to know because it kept him focused,” DeParle said. “He used to get mad and finally he said to me, ’Is there something about me that you don’t like sitting with me?’” Deparle said. “And I said, ‘No, Mr. President, it’s not that. I just felt that you deserved some time to be by yourself.’”

          Where one sits in a meeting is important too—and Mastromonaco and DeParle led by example, only sitting at the table when they were key to a meeting. “To me, a staffer at the National Economic Council who is doing housing should be at the table if the meeting’s on housing,” said Mastromonaco. “And then the men would always sit at the table. Relevant, not relevant. … It could actually be a meeting about how birth control makes you feel, and they would sit at the table…”

          http://time.com/4166609/barack-obama-nancy-ann-deparle-alyssa-mastromonaco-smurfettes/

          Someday Ametia, tell me to tell you all about some of these other folks…like this Alyssa Mastromonaco for instance…She is married to the guy who until recently was Harry Reid’s Chief of Staff…the guy who gave the Washington Post and the New York Times exclusives seriously bad-mouthing the President…the guy who would disrespectfully inject himself into conversations between the President and his boss Harry Reid…the guy who loathed the President so much he didn’t even show up for the wedding party the President had for them at the White House –

          So much to tell…

          Just know that they ain’t loyal…

          Reply
      • Liza says:
        April 22, 2016 at 1:34 pm

        Agreed. And learning to love Hillary is something I can’t do.

        Reply
      • Ametia says:
        April 22, 2016 at 1:41 pm

        The very thought that this WET-BEHIND-THE-EARS dude thinks he has any INFLUENCE on my VOTE….

        GTFOH Favreau!

        Reply
      • Ametia says:
        April 22, 2016 at 1:49 pm

        We don’t consider your comments & contributions rambling, eliihaas.

        Drop the knowledge anytime. Most of the folks you mention, I’d never heard of, so appreciate your informing us here at 3 Chics!

        Reply
        • eliihass says:
          April 22, 2016 at 2:13 pm

          Thank you, Ametia…

          I only share to disprove the shenanigans of some of these extremely disingenuous political opportunists and their attempts to mislead – and the falsehoods they spin..

          Some of these folks cast themselves – and are usually touted as ‘important, wonderful and indispensable’ members of the President’s inner circle…and they get to enjoy – and exploit – the benefit of the doubt and goodwill by association, automatically bestowed upon them by some of the President’s supporters…

          But those who really pay attention, know differently…

          They ain’t loyal…

          I’m sometimes shocked that some of those who claim to have followed the President very carefully and claim to be his greatest supporters, don’t even know some of the antics of some of those they praise – and only because they see them hanging around or name-dropping the President…

          I always say, look closely…If they don’t have a relationship with the First Lady…if they pretend the President has no wife and tell stories were she doesn’t even exist or feature ….and they tell of how they rescued him and continue to rescue him…that’s your heads-up…

          Reply
  27. Ametia says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:55 am

    It appeared folks didn’t know where and who should go where in the vehicle

    Reply
  28. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:43 am

    VP Biden backs Sanders campaign optimism

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Hmmm….

    Friday, April 22, 2016

    TRUMP CAMPAIGN DUPES MAINSTREAM MEDIA, WITH AN ASSIST FROM THE #NEVERTRUMPERS

    See the bait. See the mainstream media rising to the bait.

    Associated Press:

    Donald Trump’s chief lieutenants told skeptical Republican leaders Thursday that the GOP front-runner has been “projecting an image” so far in the 2016 primary season and “the part that he’s been playing is now evolving” in a way that will improve his standing among general election voters.

    The message, delivered behind closed doors in a private briefing, is part of the campaign’s intensifying effort to convince party leaders Trump will moderate his tone in the coming months to help deliver big electoral gains this fall….

    New York Times:

    Donald J. Trump’s newly installed campaign chief sought to assure members of the Republican National Committee on Thursday night that Mr. Trump recognized the need to reshape his persona and that his campaign would begin working with the political establishment that he has scorned to great effect.

    ……………..

    There’s some skepticism in these reports, but the message is that everything will be fine and dandy and just be politics as usual if Trump is the nominee, so the press doesn’t haven’t to do hand-wringing coverage about the hijacking of the Republican Party by a dangerous barbarian. (Even after all these months of Trump, much of the press still hasn’t been able to bring itself to say that the rot is within the GOP and conservative movement, but never mind.)

    The #NeverTrump movement, oddly, is playing right along with this, telling fellow conservatives who’ve fallen for Trump that Trump has never really been the guy they’ve cheered on for months. Erick Erickson:

    … this is an admission against interest that Trump has been lying to the American people and his supporters.

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:07 am

    Trump on Clinton: ‘Now I’m going to say she’s not qualified’

    Donald Trump on Thursday picked up a recent spat between the Democratic candidates and said he thinks Hillary Clinton is not qualified for the presidency.

    At a rally in Harrisburg, Pa., Trump said he would like Bernie Sanders to continue his battle with Clinton over the Democratic presidential nomination.

    “He’s been tough on her,” he said. “In fact, I’d like him to keep going. The longer he goes the more I’m going to like it.”

    Trump then rehashed a recent clash between the two Democrats over qualifications, first saying that he thinks Clinton is qualified for the job and then switching positions.

    “[Sanders] said she suffers from bad judgement and she said – now I don’t know, I think she’s qualified, I guess. But that doesn’t mean she’s good,” Trump said. “He said she’s not qualified to be president. Now what he meant is because her judgement is so bad- so Bernie Sanders, not me, said she’s not qualified. So now I’m going to say: She’s not qualified, OK?”

    “We have all of the mistakes Hillary made as secretary of State,” Trump continued. “We have a mess. The war in Iraq has been devastating. We have probably spent $4 trillion in the Middle East.”

    Reply
  32. Ametia says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:07 am

    NOT ACCEPTABLE

    Controversial ‘Nina’ biopic fails to capture the singer’s voice or life

    The controversy over the casting of Zoe Saldana as the late Nina Simone, a woman of color who was both darker-skinned and broader of feature than the Hollywood actress who plays her in “Nina,” has cast a pall over the release of the new film. Saldana’s use of skin-darkening makeup, a prosthetic nose and a kinky wig has been likened to blackface.

    Although the practice of using cosmetic adjustments to bring a performer’s appearance more in line with the historical figure they portray is common, in this case it adds a sting to the portrait of a woman who was the victim of racism in her lifetime. As Sim­one’s daughter, actress Lisa Sim­one Kelly, observed in the excellent 2015 documentary “What Happened, Miss Simone?” her mother was often told that, “her nose was too big, her lips were too full and her skin was too dark.”

    [The Nina Simone biopic hits theaters. Her daughter hopes fans stay home.]

    As troubling as the implications of Saldana’s casting might be, the actress’s physical appearance in the film — which only approximates Simone’s — is ultimately not the most egregious deviation from its subject. Saldana, who does her own reasonably competent singing in “Nina,” doesn’t sound very much like Simone. Saldana has a pleasant voice, but it’s higher, cooler and cleaner than Simone’s, with none of her signature whiskey-soaked vibrato. “Sometimes I sound like gravel,” Simone says in the documentary, “and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/controversial-nina-biopic-fails-to-capture-the-singers-voice-or-life/2016/04/21/eba568c0-0337-11e6-9203-7b8670959b88_story.html?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_movies

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 9:02 am

    huh?

    Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter taught Tiger Woods how to talk to girls

    ESPN on Thursday published a massive profile of Tiger Woods that, in the off-chance you haven’t read it already, you absolutely should.

    Author Wright Thompson offers an alternate theory about Tiger’s so-called downfall: That Tiger’s car crash on on Thanksgiving in 2009 and ensuing revelations of his sex scandal wasn’t the start of his downfall, as most people commonly believe. Rather, it was the result of a downward spiral that Tiger had been experiencing following his father’s death in 2006. It’s a fascinating and revealing glimpse of what makes Tiger Woods, well, Tiger Woods.

    There are so many interesting moments in the piece, but one of the more notable ones involved Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter teaching Tiger Woods how to flirt with women following the death of his father:

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 8:58 am

    78 Sears and Kmart stores to close

    Trying to cut its way to profitability, troubled Sears Holdings announced Thursday that it will close 68 Kmart and 10 Sears stores this summer in its latest move to cut losses.

    Sears’ (SHLD) move (see the list of the stores) comes atop a previous announcement that it will close 50 other stores. Sales have been falling and Sears had a disappointing holiday sales season.

    Reply
  35. Ametia says:
    April 22, 2016 at 8:55 am

    African American women, their political muscle growing, could pick winner of Maryland Senate primary
    By James Hohmann April 22 at 9:00 AM

    BURTONSVILLE, Md.—African American women have emerged as a more potent political force than ever this year. They are Hillary Clinton’s core base of support, and they’ve helped her run up big margins in states with diverse populations.

    Compared to 2008, when Barack Obama was running to become our first black president, overall turnout is down among every demographic group in this year’s Democratic primaries. But the drop-off has been much smaller among African Americans. This means that African Americans comprise a larger share of the electorate than in any previous election.

    In many states, exit polls show this accounts for something like three percent. But the effect has been more dramatic in other states. In Mississippi, for instance, African Americans made up 48 percent of the Democratic primary electorate in 2008. This year, they accounted for 71 percent. Black women turn out in significantly higher numbers than black men.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/04/22/daily-202-african-american-women-their-political-muscle-growing-could-pick-winner-of-maryland-senate-primary/5719437a981b92a22d101aad/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 8:28 am

    Ametia,

    check the email

    Reply
  38. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 22, 2016 at 8:15 am

    VP Joe Biden praises Bernie Sanders campaign, vision.

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    April 22, 2016 at 7:52 am

    Morning Everyone

    Reply
  46. Ametia says:
    April 22, 2016 at 7:39 am

    TGIF Everyone. :)))

    Reply

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