Sunday Open Thread | Praise & Worship

Posted on August 14, 2016 by SouthernGirl2

Eddie James 3Eddie James, born in Phoenix, AZ, accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior at the age of 8. He entered into music ministry at the tender age of 9 and it is for this reason that Eddie recognizes the gifts of God inside of young people. God has placed a burden inside of Eddie James, to minister to those who are hurting and lost, with an extraordinary emphasis on youth and young adults. As a result of his efforts, God has established Eddie James as a leader of music and ministry in the nation and around the world.

Higher with The Phoenix Mass Choir was Eddie James his first recorded national album. Higher debuted at number 10 and went to number 3 on the national charts. Since then he has recorded ten other projects that have impacted our nation and our world. His group ColourBlind, a culturally diverse group of five young men, released an album called, The David Story. This album contains twelve chapters of the book of Psalms put to music. They also recorded a soundtrack to their musical production called, Break the Walls. Break the Walls is a musical production designed for high school and college youth that deals with the issues of drugs, violence, pre-marital sex, racism, and dysfunctional families. Eddie James along with ColourBlind has reached over 200,000 youth in America with this musical drama presentation. Through this message of hope, countless numbers of lives have been changed.

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 Christianity, Current Events, Gospel, Inspiration, Music, News, Open Thread, Politics, Praise, Spirituality, Worship and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

66 Responses to Sunday Open Thread | Praise & Worship

  3. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 9:14 pm

    The Chinese Diver got proposed to after winning her medal.

    https://youtu.be/p_6rcCYQ9no

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 8:56 pm

    huh?

    HUH?

    Audit Finds 42 People Entered Into California State Gang Database Were Less Than One Year Old

    Hannah Gold

    http://gawker.com/audit-finds-42-people-entered-into-california-state-gan-1785278461

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 8:52 pm

    Gabby Douglas, her Olympics over, tearfully responds to social media critics http://wpo.st/zw-s1

    Reply
  17. Liza says:
    August 14, 2016 at 8:38 pm

    Yes, @elizabethforma, what DNC did was an embarrassment. But what YOU did was a stab in the back. We don't forget. pic.twitter.com/LKx3ZKcks9— Amir Amini (@amiraminiMD) August 14, 2016

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 8:33 pm

    Congratulations for Usain Bolt!

    Fastest Man in the world!

    Reply
  22. Liza says:
    August 14, 2016 at 4:16 pm

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 14, 2016 at 7:15 pm

      This pathetic, shameless, hollow, soulless, self-loathing, evil coon..

      Reply
      • Ametia says:
        August 14, 2016 at 8:16 pm

        Clarke’s a MODERN-DAY SLAVE CATCHER of the highest order.

        He think he’s special to Massa, but one wrong step out of place, and they’ll show him just how special he is to them.

        Reply
        • eliihass says:
          August 14, 2016 at 9:18 pm

          Like your son in law writes:

          “No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and—who knows?—maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us.

          Reply
  29. Ametia says:
    August 14, 2016 at 11:50 am

    If anyone finds the GOLD MEDAL CEREMONY for Michelle Carter’s winning the SHOT PUT, WOULD YOU PLEASE POST.

    NBC and other channels are slow to post these ceremonies. SHAMEFUL!

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      August 14, 2016 at 11:56 am

      Yes, they worked very hared to keep us out of pools, voting booths, housing, jobs,restaurant hotels, film, TV, schools, etc.

      THAT FAILED.

      Now they are SHOOTING & KILLING US UNARMED.

      See how this works?

      Reply
  31. Ametia says:
    August 14, 2016 at 11:29 am

    My Son-in-Law, Ya’ll

    Thursday, August 11, 2016
    I am torn about this article and this picture:

    phelps

    On one hand, it makes me smile that the biggest athlete on the planet right now (at least until Usain Bolt runs this weekend), took the time to hit up a black Atlanta barbershop to get his pre-Olympic haircut. As any man will tell you (black or white) a pre-big event haircut is absolutely important. It boosts a dude’s self-esteem and makes him feel invincible, and that is half the battle when tackling an event or in Phelps’s case, a world-record setting mission. Phelps veered away from his usual barber–as I have written about before, that is risky business–and stepped into the foreign world of black barbershops. Not only did he get a cut, then he decided to give them some major league shine by posting the name of the shop and a picture of the staff, on his Instagram page. I have no doubt that between his Olympic performances the past few days and the aforementioned ESPN article, that picture has gotten millions of views and perhaps that barbershop has seen a favorable uptick in business.

    Not to mention, in this era of weird racial relations, it is nice to see a white dude and lots of black dudes combine organically sans incident. To his credit, Phelps seems like a cool enough dude and I have no doubt that this isn’t his initial foray into the world of black-ish culture. On the surface, what I’ve written so far should be all I have to say about this issue. But there’s always a but..

    I don’t know whether I’m overly sensitive about race (of course I am) or if my occasional black man rage is out of control (entirely possible) but the picture and the article (ironically enough the ESPN article was written by folks from The Undefeated, which is primarily a group of black writers writing about black and black-ish issues) has a Bill Clinton feel to it. Allow me to explain.

    When Bill Clinton was the President, black folks (not me) loved to toss around the narrative that Clinton was the first black president. Some folks said this because he loved watching basketball, was seemingly “cool” with black celebrities, and cheated on his wife with reckless abandon and seemingly no remorse. Others like Toni Morrison were a bit more eloquent about their reasoning:

    After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President’s body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and body-searched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear: “No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and—who knows?—maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us.

    Either way, the implication was that certain white folks were more down simply via their tangential brush with broad black culture, was always insulting to me. I have no problem with that on the surface as long as there is some substance and authenticity behind it. If you’re into the barbershops and the music, please stay for the more substantive issues like brutality, inequality, etc. You can’t cherry pick the great parts of black culture and extol them via in Instagram page, unless you are equally as passionate about the issues plaguing those same people. That’s like me constantly talking about Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, “Bad” and “Off The Wall” albums without properly acknowledging that “Dangerous” and “Invicible” were weak(er) sauce. I’m an MJ fan so I liked it all, but I embraced the strengths and his glaring vulnerability. Perhaps I shouldn’t compare black culture to MJ, but it was the most accessible example in my mind at the time.

    Again, I could be acting like a sensitive, hit dog, and if that’s the case, I am quite sure someone will hit me up via email to put me in my pace. Maybe I should relax and be happy Phelps has no fear in shouting out black folks who helped him out. Or maybe my condition is so conditioned that I cannot get out of my own way. Either way, I’m glad I wrote about it.

    And I WHOLE-HEARTEDLYY AGREE.

    Reply
  35. Ametia says:
    August 14, 2016 at 10:26 am
    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 10:06 am

    Inside the Failing Mission to Tame Trump’s Tongue
    AUGUST 13, 2016

    Donald J. Trump was in a state of shock: He had just fired his campaign manager and was watching the man discuss his dismissal at length on CNN. The rattled candidate’s advisers and family seized the moment for an intervention.

    Joined by his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, a cluster of Mr. Trump’s confidants pleaded with him to make that day — June 20 — a turning point.

    He would have to stick to a teleprompter and end his freestyle digressions and insults, like his repeated attacks on a Hispanic federal judge. Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey argued that Mr. Trump had an effective message, if only he would deliver it. For now, the campaign’s polling showed, too many voters described him in two words: “unqualified” and “racist.”

    Mr. Trump bowed to his team’s entreaties, according to four people with detailed knowledge of the meeting, who described it on the condition of anonymity. It was time, he agreed, to get on track.

    Nearly two months later, the effort to save Mr. Trump from himself has plainly failed. He has repeatedly signaled to his advisers and allies his willingness to change and adapt, but has grown only more volatile and prone to provocation since then, clashing with a Gold Star family, making comments that have been seen as inciting violence and linking his political opponents to terrorism.

    Advisers who once hoped a Pygmalion-like transformation would refashion a crudely effective political showman into a plausible American president now increasingly concede that Mr. Trump may be beyond coaching. He has ignored their pleas and counsel as his poll numbers have dropped, boasting to friends about the size of his crowds and maintaining that he can read surveys better than the professionals.

    In private, Mr. Trump’s mood is often sullen and erratic, his associates say. He veers from barking at members of his staff to grumbling about how he was better off following his own instincts during the primaries and suggesting he should not have heeded their calls for change.

    He broods about his souring relationship with the news media, calling Mr. Manafort several times a day to talk about specific stories. Occasionally, Mr. Trump blows off steam in bursts of boyish exuberance: At the end of a fund-raiser on Long Island last week, he playfully buzzed the crowd twice with his helicopter.

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      August 14, 2016 at 10:57 am

      Trump is done. Stick a fork in him. After the Democratic National Convention, his probability of winning the election sunk to 12 percent in Nate Silver’s forecast model, and that’s where it is now. Well, this is obviously a great deal more than a convention bounce for the Democrats. Trump just couldn’t make the leap from GOP primary candidate to nominee. His enormous ego would not allow him to believe that what works at his Klan rallies might not work in front of national and worldwide audiences that began to take him seriously. Should Trump make it to the November election as he most likely will, the Trump voters will provide a head count of the number of white supremacists (and their supporters) who are out there. There is no one else who would vote for him.

      http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        August 14, 2016 at 11:05 am

        While I was writing this, 538 updated their forecast and Trump’s probability sunk to 11 percent.

        With such low numbers, I have to wonder if Trump will go through with this. The election is trending toward a landslide for the Democrats, so will Trump’s giant ego withstand the humiliation or will he look for a way out? I can’t begin to predict.

        I keep thinking what a shame it is that the Democrats don’t have a good candidate. This was a real opportunity that has already been squandered, in my opinion.

        Reply
      • Ametia says:
        August 14, 2016 at 11:37 am

        The DNC absolutely SQUANDERD the greatest opportunities ever to put forth a Democratic presidential candidate without enough BAGGAGE to take several trips around the globe.

        PBO had game, and the wrote the win-win playbook for Dems, but NO, they want to go back to the STONE AGE of retreads, drama, power-hungry, entitled Clintons.

        I’M DONE WITH THE DEMOCRACTIC PARTY.

        DONE

        Reply
      • Liza says:
        August 14, 2016 at 3:35 pm

        Me too. I’m changing my registration to unaffiliated after the election in November, not before because I’m afraid it would get screwed up somehow and I would have to vote provisional and not be counted.

        Reply
    • eliihass says:
      August 14, 2016 at 7:36 pm

      I would typically never share anything written by this woman but I make this exception:

      ‘….WASHINGTON — SPEAKING of crazy …

      All these woebegone Republicans whining that they can’t rally behind their flawed candidate is crazy. The G.O.P. angst, the gnashing and wailing and searching for last-minute substitutes and exit strategies, is getting old.

      They already have a 1-percenter who will be totally fine in the Oval Office, someone they can trust to help Wall Street, boost the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, cuddle with hedge funds, secure the trade deals beloved by corporate America, seek guidance from Henry Kissinger and hawk it up — unleashing hell on Syria and heaven knows where else.

      The Republicans have their candidate: It’s Hillary.

      They can’t go with Donald Trump. He’s too volatile and unhinged.

      The erstwhile Goldwater Girl and Goldman Sachs busker can be counted on to do the normal political things, not the abnormal haywire things. Trump’s propounding could drag us into war, plunge us into a recession and shatter Washington into a thousand tiny bits.

      Hillary will keep the establishment safe. Who is more of an establishment figure, after all? Her husband was president, and he repealed Glass-Steagall, signed the Defense of Marriage Act and got rid of those pesky welfare queens.

      Pushing her Midwestern Methodist roots, taking advantage of primogeniture, Hillary often seems more Republican than the Gotham bling king, who used to be a Democrat and donor to Democratic candidates before he jumped the turnstile.

      Hillary is a reliable creature of Wall Street. Her tax return showed the Clintons made $10.6 million last year, and like other superrich families, they incorporated with the Clinton Executive Services Corporation (which was billed for the infamous server). Trump has started holding up goofy charts at rallies showing Hillary has gotten $48,500,000 in contributions from hedge funders, compared to his $19,000.

      Unlike Trump, she hasn’t been trashing leading Republicans. You know that her pals John McCain and Lindsey Graham are secretly rooting for her. There is a cascade of prominent Republicans endorsing Hillary, donating to Hillary, appearing in Hillary ads, talking up Hillary’s charms.

      Robert Kagan, a former Reagan State Department aide, adviser to the McCain and Mitt Romney campaigns and Iraq war booster, headlined a Hillary fund-raiser this summer. Another neocon, James Kirchick, keened in The Daily Beast, “Hillary Clinton is the one person standing between America and the abyss.”

      The Democratic nominee put out an ad featuring Trump-bashing Michael Hayden, an N.S.A. and C.I.A. chief under W. who was deemed “incongruent” by the Senate when he testified about torture methods. And she earned an endorsement from John Negroponte, a Reagan hand linked to American-trained death squads in Latin America.

      Politico reports that the Clinton team sent out feelers to see if Kissinger, the Voldemort of Vietnam, and Condi Rice, the conjurer of Saddam’s apocalyptic mushroom cloud, would back Hillary.

      Hillary has written that Kissinger is an “idealistic” friend whose counsel she valued as secretary of state, drawing a rebuke from Bernie Sanders during the primaries: “I’m proud to say Henry Kissinger is not my friend.”

      The Hillary team seems giddy over its windfall of Republicans and neocons running from the Trump sharknado. But as David Weigel wrote in The Washington Post, the specter of Kissinger, the man who advised Nixon to prolong the Vietnam War to help with his re-election, fed a perception that “the Democratic nominee has returned to her old, hawkish ways and is again taking progressives for granted.”

      And Isaac Chotiner wrote in Slate, “The prospect of Kissinger having influence in a Clinton White House is downright scary.”

      Hillary is a safer bet in many ways for conservatives. Trump likes to say he is flexible. What if he returns to his liberal New York positions on gun control and abortion rights?

      Hillary, on the other hand, understands her way around political language and Washington rituals. Of course you do favors for wealthy donors. And if you want to do something incredibly damaging to the country, like enabling George W. Bush to make the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history, don’t shout inflammatory and fabricated taunts from a microphone.

      You must walk up to the microphone calmly, as Hillary did on the Senate floor the day of the Iraq war vote, and accuse Saddam of giving “aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda,” repeating the Bush administration’s phony case for war.

      If you want to carry the G.O.P. banner, your fabrications have to be more sneaky.

      As Republican strategist Steve Schmidt noted on MSNBC, “the candidate in the race most like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from a foreign policy perspective is in fact Hillary Clinton, not the Republican nominee.”

      And that’s how Republicans prefer their crazy — not like Trump, but like Cheney…’

      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/opinion/sunday/the-perfect-gop-nominee.html

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        August 15, 2016 at 9:49 am

        Spot in. Hillary is, without question, the Republican candidate. They couldn’t ask for anything more.

        And all of the Democratic die hard apologists who have tried to turn her temporarily into a “progressive” will very soon have their tails between their legs. At the rate it’s shedding, her progressive outer coat may not even last until November. Of course, it doesn’t matter anymore because Trump is the Devil.

        Reply
      • Liza says:
        August 15, 2016 at 10:42 am

        ** Spot on **

        Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 9:54 am

    How We Killed the Tea Party
    Greedy PACs drained the movement with endless pleas for money to support “conservative” causes and candidates. I worked for one of them. But Tea Party ideas live on.
    August 14, 2016

    As we watch the Republican Party tear itself to shreds over Donald Trump, perhaps it’s time to take note of another conservative political phenomenon that the GOP nominee has utterly eclipsed: the Tea Party. The Tea Party movement is pretty much dead now, but it didn’t die a natural death. It was murdered—and it was an inside job. In a half decade, the spontaneous uprising that shook official Washington degenerated into a form of pyramid scheme that transferred tens of millions of dollars from rural, poorer Southerners and Midwesterners to bicoastal political operatives.

    What began as an organic, policy-driven grass-roots movement was drained of its vitality and resources by national political action committees that dunned the movement’s true believers endlessly for money to support its candidates and causes. The PACs used that money first to enrich themselves and their vendors and then deployed most of the rest to search for more “prospects.” In Tea Party world, that meant mostly older, technologically unsavvy people willing to divulge personal information through “petitions”—which only made them prey to further attempts to lighten their wallets for what they believed was a good cause. While the solicitations continue, the audience has greatly diminished because of a lack of policy results and changing political winds.

    I was an employee at one of the firms that ran these operations. But nothing that follows is proprietary or gleaned directly from my employment. The evidence of the scheming is all there in the public record, available for anyone willing to look.

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    August 14, 2016 at 5:49 am

    Good Morning 😊, Everyone 😆

    Reply
  43. SouthernGirl2 says:
    August 14, 2016 at 1:24 am

    Good morning, everyone!

    #MilwaukeeUprising, yall

    https://twitter.com/Delo_Taylor/status/764691846077505537

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      August 14, 2016 at 10:12 am

      Wash, Rinse, REPEAT

      1. Kill unarmed black man
      2. Black communities PROTEST!
      3. Police killed by lone wolves-lone wolves BLASTED by DRONE
      4. Media airs breaking news of the dead cops-OUTCRY from the usual suspects
      5. Protest continue around the country
      6.. PBO-AG Lynch declarations for peace & calm

      WASH RINSE REPEAT

      Reply

Leave a Reply