Sleigh Ride” is a popular light orchestral piece composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946; he finished the work in February 1948. Lyrics, about a person who would like to ride in a sleigh on a winter’s day with another person, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops Orchestra. The song was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal 49-0515 (45 rpm) / 10-1484 (78 rpm), and has become the equivalent of a signature song for the orchestra. The 45 rpm version was originally issued on red vinyl. This original mono version has never been available on CD, although the later 1959 re-recording is available in stereo. The orchestra has also recorded the song with John Williams, their conductor from 1979 to 1995, and Keith Lockhart, their current conductor.
The Head of EXXON AS SECRETARY OF STATE??
YES
https://mobile.twitter.com/BlackToLive/status/807336686422261761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ATLBlackStar/status/807264804230533125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/tomandlorenzo/status/807273793303494660?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c55586a20b3933cf3bd0ada598db007d22d949dcc48129bfe198f8ddbfd10e0.jpg
https://twitter.com/DanJWeiss/status/807278573006585856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/letsmove/status/807280671181811712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/robferdman/status/807300260834013184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/807292880771575812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Trump’s Team Is Trying to Figure Out How to Upend Obama’s Climate Policy
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 9, 2016 3:35 PM
A few days ago, Politico reported that Trump was basically ignoring his policy team that is at work crafting plans for how the administration will govern. But Catherine Traywick and Jennifer A Dlouhy got a scoop on what some of those folks are digging into with regards to energy policy.
Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are developing plans to reshape Energy Department programs, help keep aging nuclear plants online and identify staff who played a role in promoting President Barack Obama’s climate agenda.
Most of the reaction to that news has been to focus on the targeting of employees and contractors – which is, indeed, ominous. But it’s also interesting to pair that information with an article by Valerie Volcovici and David Shepardson titled, “Trump’s EPA pick could have a surprisingly tough time dismantling Obama’s environmental legacy.” In listing the hurdles Scott Pruitt might face in an effort to dismantle the climate change efforts put in place by the Obama administration, they included this:
Ladies.
Did you know about this?
WHAT THE FUCK?????
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheRoot/status/807056135249391616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
SG2,
Please retweet
I have never despised a group of voters as I do those who voted for Ferret Head. My reaction to them is visceral.
Soap Opera Fans…another loss..
Damn you, 2016.
Joseph Mascolo, who played Stefano DiMera – dead at 87.
Man, I loved me some Stefano, with his evil, rotten self.
So I guess this is our first glimpse of what Dylann Roof looked like after the massacre?
I can’t write what I’m thinking.
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The GOP plan to turn America into Dixie
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/12/09/how-trump-and-the-gop-will-try-to-turn-the-entire-country-into-dixie/?utm_term=.dee3002462fb
Am I wrong, but isn’t this the same scam that they used to destroy the solvency of the United States Post Office?
…………………………….
GOP Plans Major Social Security Cuts
By JOSH MARSHALL
Published DECEMBER 9, 2016, 2:13 PM EDT
We’ll have a story coming shortly on what I just mentioned a short time ago: that Republicans are now planning to pass major cuts to Social Security this year.
Until then let me cover the broad details of the plan.
Unlike the Bush-era plan to partially phase out Social Security and replace it with private investment accounts, this plan takes a different approach. Through a variety of mechanisms, this plan simply cuts benefits and introduces means testing. To look at specific cuts, changes in eligibility and so forth look at pages 2 and 3 on this official Social Security Administration scoring document analyzing the plan. The benefit cuts appear to hit everyone but are weighted toward more affluent recipients.
The big picture is that the current Social Security Trust Fund is predicted to be exhausted in the mid-late 2030s. So roughly in 20 years. People often refer to this as ‘bankruptcy’. But that’s not really accurate. At that point Social Security would only be able to pay 79% of benefits recipients will be entitled to in those years.
By 2090, that percentage falls to 74%. So it’s fairly stable after that drop-off in the 2030s.
Now there are a number of ways to cover that shortfall – the most obvious is to remove or alter the so-called ‘cap’ on Social Security taxes. Once you get over $118,500 of income per year you stop paying Social Security taxes. So your Social Security tax rate is much higher if you make $50,000 a year than if you make $500,000 a year. Change that and most of the problem disappears.
The plan with this new GOP bill is to proactively solve this problem entirely with cuts and really big cuts. Out over 75 years, the GOP proposal has the Trust Fund growing substantially out into the infinite horizon. In other words, a lot of the cuts are more than are necessary to pay for all benefits.
This was a reply at BJ to me:
Quick Takes: Another Shoe to Drop on American Workers
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 8, 2016 5:03 PM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
There’s no denying that Trump demagogued the issue of trade during the election. But if you have any doubts about where all that is going, take a look at what Nick Timiraos noticed about his cabinet:
I have no illusions that TPP will survive. All the talk from Trump folks these days is about negotiating bilateral trade agreements. But just as the president-elect promised in a debate with Clinton, it is a sure bet that he’ll put his corporate friends in charge of those negotiations. And I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that they turn out to be worse than TPP when it comes to their impact on American workers.
Good Morning, Everyone. TGIF.
Donald Trump’s companies in 650 million in debt
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-donald-trump-companies-at-least-650-million-in-debt/
Trump’s Con Job Exposed
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 9, 2016 9:29 AM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
Yesterday was not a good day for anyone who still believed the con job Trump ran on about concern for working class Americans.
It all started on Tuesday when Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers 1999 (which represents Carrier employees) said that Trump “lied his ass off” when he said that he’d saved 1,100 jobs at the company. Jones had learned from Carrier just prior to Trump’s victory lap in Indianapolis that the number was really about 730 jobs. It became his task the next day to explain to the remaining 550 workers that the deal didn’t include them and they’d lose their jobs after all.
Obviously that comment upset our thin-skinned president-elect and he did what he usually does…he tried to bully Jones on twitter.
It looks like Trump might have met his match in Chuck Jones, though. In an interview with the Washington Post, the union guy brushed off the nonsense, as well as the threats he is now receiving from Trump supporters by saying “It is what it is. It don’t phase me.” Then he published an article in the paper titled “I’m the union leader Donald Trump attacked. I’m tired of being lied to about our jobs.” Jones provides some interesting background on the situation at Carrier.
I mailed off a Christmas Card and Thank you letter to the First Couple. Sort of ashamed that I hadn’t done sooner in his 8 years in office. But, I couldn’t let his time pass by without expressing my thanks and appreciation for their service to this country.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/807238390114648065
Yes yes yes
https://mobile.twitter.com/Rossalincoln/status/806570782377676800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He is not qualified. Period.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/807010818235711488
Truth
https://mobile.twitter.com/Rossalincoln/status/806566843347369984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Uh huh
Uh huh
https://mobile.twitter.com/christinawilkie/status/806978875561562112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Truth
https://mobile.twitter.com/Rossalincoln/status/806557072246484992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
There are some good tweets in this Twitter thread
https://mobile.twitter.com/Rossalincoln/status/806553976527126528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The South Korean President has been impeached?
Morning, Everyone😐😐😐
Good morning, Rikyrah and Everyone
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