I love CBS Sunday Morning. They always showcase the good, beauty of the human spirit.
ICYMI- 7/30/17
Summer Breeze!
I love CBS Sunday Morning. They always showcase the good, beauty of the human spirit.
ICYMI- 7/30/17
Summer Breeze!
Even though 3Chics Politico is written and curated by three women: Ametia, Rikyrah, and SouthernGirl2, I must nominate this as one of the most engaging blogs I've found. Devoted to politics and culture, these three shine a light on contemporary life with humor and spirit.
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
https://twitter.com/UnderArmour/status/889503057255518209
https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom/status/892474610020745217
https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom/status/892458920773648384
https://twitter.com/akarl_smith/status/892486648633708544
Well, then he should resign and move out.
https://twitter.com/metaquest/status/892525034064838657
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/892509460270387200
https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/892511530973089792
Love this tweet about Maxine Waters
https://mobile.twitter.com/joshuadubois/status/892482761612808193
EXCLUSIVE: Omarosa Manigault keeping dossiers on journalists April Ryan and Roland Martin and Pastor Jamal Bryant calling them ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community’ and ‘enemies of the Trump administration’
By Karen Ruiz For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 13:12 EDT, 1 August 2017 | UPDATED: 14:43 EDT, 1 August 2017
Omarosa has told President Trump three high-profile personalities are the ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community,’ sources tell DailyMail.com
The former reality star was once pals with CNN’s April Ryan, Roland Martin, and Pastor Jamal Bryant, but their political differences have come between them
The 43-year-old has reportedly told former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to stop calling on Ryan during press briefings because she is a ‘media w***e’
Manigualt is allegedly ‘always bashing’ her former friends in meetings with senior White House staff and has team keeping a dossier on each of them
However, the Trump aide ‘doesn’t want to publicly fall out with Roland because out of her three former allies, he is the one she really fears’
Manigault denies that she is carefully monitoring the three personalities
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4641430/Omarosa-keeping-dossiers-Trump-enemies.html#ixzz4oXHYoqL9
https://media.giphy.com/media/8uw7IdKfHDVPG/giphy
Analysis: Between now and the debt-limit deadline — Sept. 29 — the House is in session for only 12 days https://t.co/yk4DlWHzPq
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 1, 2017
WHAT A FAILURE- Can’t get anythingof value for the greater good of Americans.
So off to build a pretend wall? GTFOH PAUL -AYN -RYAN!
Paul Ryan doesn’t know sh!t about the US/Mexican border.
How Queen Sugar’s Ralph Angel Humanizes A Specific Type of Black Man
Humanizing the Black Man
alph Angel’s character on Queen Sugar helps to humanize a certain type of Black man. The type of Black man who isn’t represented in the media as a human being with any real layers or depth. Black men like Ralph Angel-who are former felons, with no degrees, traditional work experiences or skills are often scrutinized and usually depicted as angry, barbaric, unintelligent, one dimensional, emotionally inept creatures.
What Ava DuVernay so beautifully captures with Ralph Angel’s character is his ability to dream and want the same things most of us (both men and women) desire for our lives as part of this American Dream we’re all so desperately in search of. She brilliantly highlights Ralph Angel’s evolution as he challenges his own ability to restore the relationships in his life and improve upon them. The first of those relationships being the one with his son. His compassion and love for his son is the very first thing that humanizes him. In a society where we are often socialized or conditioned to believe that most Black men cannot or will not commit to loving and supporting their children as fiercely as the Black woman- we see just the opposite with Ralph Angel. As the custodial parent in Season 1 we watch him evolve as a father, inserting himself in Blue’s life not only as a provider and protector but also as a supporter of Blue’s potential exploration with self identity, through his attachment to a Barbie doll named Kenya. Ralph Angel does not project his own feelings or judgments onto Blue, instead he provides Blue with support and love and he fights fiercely to maintain a shield of protection for Blue as he navigates through the world.
Read on
https://blavity.com/how-queen-sugars-ralph-angel-humanizes-a-specific-type-of-black-man?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%208117&utm_content=Blavity%20Daily%20Newsletter%208117+CID_8d68df459bf0091455ca19553c0ab28b&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Ralph%20Angel%20humanizes%20a%20specific%20type
I LOVE QUEEN SUGAR
Ralph Angel is not going to defy anyone’s attempts to define his son Blue.
YOU GO, RALPH!
Great article on super digital resource on SNCC history:
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/bitstreams/author/kdf5duke-edu/
Photo from above article link:
https://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/snccdigitalgateway/DL_1963.07DylanCoxSeegerFormanGreenwood.jpg
“Bob Dylan, Cortland Cox, Pete Seeger, and James Forman sitting outside the SNCC office in
Greenwood, Mississippi, July 1963, Danny Lyon”
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/bitstreams/files/2016/12/SDGInsideSNCC.jpg
Thank you for this.
You are very welcome, SG. :)
“20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art”
https://cmoa.org/exhibition/2020-studio-cmoa/
https://cmoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Marshall-sm-625×768.jpg
“Black Power 50” Exhibition – Until December 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/Welcometoharlem/status/892150486807216130
Podcast of Ella Baker writing to NAACP:
https://twitter.com/SchomburgCenter/status/892369757969756160
EVIL
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/892429748726620162
Dale is married to a black woman…
Always! 💯💯💯
https://twitter.com/DaleMoss2/status/892424146289819651
https://twitter.com/BroderickGreer/status/891805592976863233
BWA HA HA HA
Obama’s Legacy Is Finally Coming Into Focus, Thanks to Trump
By Jonathan Chait
August 1, 2017
8:00 am
Even though it yielded a broad array of historic policy reforms, during the eight years Barack Obama occupied the White House, his administration looked and felt to most of his supporters like a bitter slog of gridlock punctuated by half-measures. And it looked to his enemies like a period of untrammeled radicalism that would soon be reversed. Six months later, his record appears very different, viewed from both the left and the right. Any president would benefit from the contrast with Donald Trump, of course. But for many reasons, not merely the flamboyant shortcomings of the current administration, the Trump era provides a vantage point from which to understand the scale and durability of the 44th president’s accomplishments. Trump, quite by mistake, is revealing the true scale of his predecessor’s achievements.
One obvious source of newfound clarity is the renewed realization that governing is hard, especially in a polarized era with a form of government laden with legislative choke points. Obama’s critics complained endlessly about the slow pace of legislation and the endless compromises wrung by interest groups and recalcitrant moderates. Liberals spent his presidency pining for imagined alternatives who could overpower the opposition. High-minded centrists endlessly blamed the president for his failure to dissuade Republicans from their strategy of total opposition, and in so doing helped reinforce the success of that opposition. Throughout his time in office, Obama labored against the contrast of hazy memories of presidents of yore who could supposedly reason with or overpower their foes and impose their legislative will.
………………………………………..
The most important reason so many people overestimated the ease with which Trump would overrun the Obama legacy is that they failed to grasp its breadth and depth, the degree to which its roots spread and its reforms took hold. Trump’s struggles to knock down Obama’s work have served to reveal how solidly it was constructed.
For eight years, Republicans drove themselves into a fever-pitch hysteria against the Affordable Care Act without bothering to learn how the law worked. Working from the premise that Obamacare was a uniquely ill-designed law — death panels! train wrecks! — they easily persuaded themselves and much of the country that Republicans could write something vastly better.
Half a year of Republican-run government has systematically exposed the right-wing arguments against Obamacare as bad-faith rhetoric or outright fantasy. One small-business owner, who told the New York Times in 2012 that he opposed the law as something jammed down the public’s throat, was re-interviewed this year. “I can’t even remember why I opposed it,” he now says.
It is not surprising that only this year did the Affordable Care Act become popular. The law’s unpopularity depended entirely on the existence of an imaginary alternative that was free of trade-offs. The populist fallacy that everybody can get better insurance for less money if only the government wasn’t run by morons is seductive. Obama’s wonkish explanations could not expose the fallacy’s hollowness. But the Republicans in power have proven excellent (if inadvertent) tutors.
“It’s not just FL: State felony disenfranchisement laws prevent 5.85 mil people from voting. We made an interactive map” :
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/892389782629879808
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/892383712385654784
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/892388042480259072
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/892388100500066304
“56 retired generals & admirals say Trump’s trans military ban would degrade troop readiness.”
https://twitter.com/dominicholden/status/892412256570441734
The article in this tweet delves into reasons people do not report hate crimes:
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/892384785342971904
We should stop equating the threat to the republic with the threat to Obama’s legacy, writes @jonathanchait https://t.co/1Ik6nPnTbH
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/892414640285601792
THE EVERLOVING PHUCK?????
DA HAIL???
State Department considers scrubbing democracy promotion from its mission
By Josh Rogin
August 1 at 5:01 AM
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement, except for one thing — any mention of promoting democracy is being eliminated.
According to an internal email that went out Friday, which I obtained, the State Department’s Executive Steering Committee convened a meeting of leaders to draft new statements on the department’s purpose, mission and ambition, as part of the overall reorganization of the State Department and USAID. (The draft statements were being circulated for comment Friday and could change before being finalized.)
Tillerson is an oligarch. That should be obvious to everyone by now.
Obama advisers are urging Deval Patrick to run in 2020
By Rob DeCola GLOBE STAFF
AUGUST 01, 2017
Will former Mass. governor Deval Patrick throw his hat into the ring as a candidate for president in 2020? Members of former president Barack Obama’s inner circle are trying to nudge Patrick toward a yes, according to a Politico interview.
In a story published on Tuesday, the publication spoke to Obama strategist David Alexrod and advisor Valerie Jarrett about a possible Patrick run in 2020.
Alexrod said he has spoken to Patrick, now at Bain Capital, about it, and rattled off to Politico the list of advantages the former Massachusetts governor would have on the national stage: “small-town campaign experience from his 2006 gubernatorial run that will jive perfectly with Iowa, neighbor-state advantage in New Hampshire, and the immediate bloc of votes he’d have as an African-American heading into South Carolina.”
Trump’s Court Evangelicals and Their Impact on the Church
by Nancy LeTourneau
August 1, 2017
It is probably not an accident that, just as the media is awash with stories about chaos in the White House spurred by the now-former communications director’s foul-mouthed treatment of his adversaries, the evangelical world is treated to a story about the “Biblical leaders” in Trump’s cabinet.
……………………………………………………
If your head is spinning trying to reconcile a “spiritual awakening” to what is actually emanating from this White House, join the club. John Fea, who chairs the History Department at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA, recently shared a different perspective in an article titled, “Trump threatens to change the course of American Christianity.” He refers to people like Drollinger as “court evangelicals,” who “like the attendants and advisers who frequented the courts of monarchs, seeks influence.”
Many of these court evangelicals are the same ones who questioned Barack Obama’s Christian faith and who cast Hillary Clinton as evil, even as she herself attended Bible studies regularly while in Washington. The fact that they can now look beyond everything Trump has stood for in his life in order to claim his presidency is the work of God speaks to their hypocrisy.
Fea notes that there are Christians who aren’t buying what the court evangelicals are selling.
On Iran, Trump wants to start with the answer, then work backwards
08/01/17 10:00 AM—UPDATED 08/01/17 10:09 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump has an important problem: a major U.S. foreign policy is working exactly as designed, and he wishes it weren’t.
As a presidential candidate, Trump had convinced himself that the international nuclear agreement with Iran was a disaster. As a president, however, Trump has discovered that the policy is working quite well, and the conflict between what’s true and what he wants to be true has apparently infuriated the easily confused president.
Trump’s new goal is to start with the answer that makes him feel better, and then have his staff reverse-engineer the evidence to arrive at the conclusion he prefers. The New York Times reported the other day:
It’s important to understand that Trump, presented with evidence of a successful American policy, is furious – because he wants and expects the policy to fail.
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/892392141917388801
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/892376272805998593
Wheeler is very messy too…and if he’s not careful, the evil snakes he’s playing footsie with will do him in..
https://twitter.com/funder/status/892389689742831616
UH HUH
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/892207277062619136
https://twitter.com/MarketWatch/status/892383566730014720
GOP senators have no appetite for another health care fight
08/01/17 09:20 AM—UPDATED 08/01/17 09:35 AM
By Steve Benen
Over the weekend, Donald Trump was under the impression he could taunt GOP senators into passing some kind of health care bill. In fact, the president said via Twitter, “Unless the Republican Senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead! Demand another vote before voting on any other bill!”
The same day, Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, said it’s the official White House policy that the Senate – part of a separate and co-equal branch of government – put aside its entire legislative schedule, presumably indefinitely, until the chamber makes the president happy by passing some kind of health care legislation.
At least for now, Republican senators don’t seem to care. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared in the early hours of Friday morning, “It’s time to move on,” and as the Washington Post reports, quite a few Republican senators are thinking along the same lines.
Unless Kelly fires Cohen-Watnik, Gorka, and Bannon, it’s all a show.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 31, 2017
My latest:
Putin Declares War on Trump
Why the White House should be very, very afraid of the Kremlin’s wrath.
https://t.co/rht3ZiiulA
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 31, 2017
They really want to see a woman president, just not that woman, and not that woman and not that woman and not that woman and not that woman https://t.co/B64JBrmmM9
— BWD 🤢 (@IrisRimon) August 1, 2017
I love Misty Copeland.
@GGail26 Simply stunning. Thanks for the link!https://t.co/UoNPzoSeEC https://t.co/CfMDtGXsWn
— Arapaho415 (@arapaho415) August 1, 2017
I always apply fragrance before I step onto the stage. @EsteeLauder #BeAnInspiration #ModernMuse #EsteeAmbassador pic.twitter.com/SWjg9xXXDi
— Misty Copeland (@mistyonpointe) July 31, 2017
If this story is true he should have the dignity to resign. https://t.co/T0paVR43Sc
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 1, 2017
I made a little video explainer on Trump, Sessions, Rosenstein and Mueller. You might find it useful. https://t.co/D8a9OQxqcZ
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) August 1, 2017
Will John Kelly’s ‘Shut Up and Trust Me’ Approach Work in the White House?
by Nancy LeTourneau
August 1, 2017
…………………………………………..
However, there have been two major success stories for the Trump administration. The first has been commented on a lot—he gave the religious right their anti-choice justice on the Supreme Court. The second hasn’t received as much attention, but comes to the fore with the president’s decision to make General John Kelly his chief of staff. (Before the announcement, Kelly served as Trump’s secretary of homeland security.)
I have previously noted that this appointment highlights the fact that Trump likes military generals because of their immersion in a culture of hierarchy and dominance. But Kelly is also the one person in the president’s cabinet who has successfully implemented his portion of the Trump agenda. Julianne Hing explains that Kelly has turned DHS into a deportation machine.
Here is how Kelly managed to accomplish that 40 percent increase:
When challenged, Kelly simply told his critics to shut up.
This is Not Normal!
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 31, 2017
A lot happened during the week that I was on vacation. There is one pair of events on which I feel the need to comment. As you know, Trump gave a speech at the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia that he turned into an “us against them” political rally. He followed that up with a speech to officers in Brentwood, NY where he basically encouraged police brutality (singling out the kind of behavior that led to the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore).
………………………
These two events don’t have a lot in common. But the tie that binds them is the fact that the President of the United States made remarks in public that were so inflammatory and incendiary that other leaders—who traditionally refrain from making political statements—felt the need to step up to the plate and either apologize or correct the record.
To the extent that we let that kind of thing pass by without comment, we accept that the bar of expectations for POTUS has been lowered to such an extent that this kind of thing is no longer shocking.
I want to go on record to say that I’m shocked and appalled (while not surprised…given the source). Please repeat after me: This is not normal!
Can Anyone Persuade Trump Not to Fire Sessions?
by Martin Longman
July 31, 2017
There are two very significant things you can observe when reading this Washington Post piece by Sari Horwitz and Robert Costa on the broken relationship between the president and his attorney general. The first is that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is willing to be obsequious in an effort to keep his dream job, but only up to a point. When it comes to his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, he’s not willing to concede much to Donald Trump. Sure, he can understand why the president finds his decision frustrating, but…
…the president is angry with him for following the law. One day after the Post revealed that Sessions had met in his Senate office with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak and failed to disclose it during his confirmation hearing, and a mere three weeks after he was sworn in as attorney general, Sessions held a press conference at the Department of Justice and announced that “I have recused myself from matters that deal with the Trump campaign.” He explained that he was following the advice of Justice Department lawyers, and Trump is fuming mad about that. But imagine what it would have looked like if Sessions had ignored that advice. He would have invited a revolt by not only Congress, but also by the majority of people serving in the department he has just begun to lead. In particular, the FBI would have gone ape. It’s not unlikely that there would have mass resignations, and anyone trying to argue that Sessions wasn’t leading a cover-up of Trump’s actions and his own actions would have been left with no compelling rebuttal points.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
Trump silent as Putin expels U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia
Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the Donald Trump administration’s odd silence in response to Russia expelling an unprecedented number of people from the U.S. embassy.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
Motive eyed in Trump’s misleading collusion e-mail story for Jr.
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about the legal implications of Donald Trump personally drafting Donald Trump Jr’s misleading story about the meeting he took with Russians offering government collusion for dirt on Hillary Clinton.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/31/17
Trump drafted Jr’s misleading collusion e-mail statement: WaPo
Carol Leonnig, reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about new revelations that Donald Trump was responsible for the misleading statement by Donald Trump Jr. to explain his meeting with Russians offering Clinton dirt and Russian government help.
Cover-up allegations raise awkward questions for Trump’s lawyer
08/01/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
……………………………..
As Joy explained on last night’s show, the Washington Post has quite a bit of new information on how the deceptive statement came together – with the president’s direct involvement.
The plan changed because the president changed it. In fact, Trump Sr. reportedly dictated the statement’s language, making him directly responsible for misleading the public about a Trump campaign meeting with Russian nationals.
Peter Zeidenberg, the deputy special prosecutor who investigated the George W. Bush administration’s leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, told the Post, “The thing that really strikes me about this is the stupidity of involving the president. They are still treating this like a family-run business and they have a PR problem…. What they don’t seem to understand is this is a criminal investigation involving all of them.”
“Federal Judge Says Alabama Doesn’t Have To Tell Felons They May Now Be Able To Vote Voting advocates say a recent change in state law is likely to cause confusion.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/alabama-felon-moral-turpitude_us_597ce859e4b02a4ebb75d693
Excerpt:
Trump’s policy illiteracy includes the basics of economic data
07/31/17 01:57 PM—UPDATED 07/31/17 02:37 PM
By Steve Benen
On Friday morning, the latest data on domestic economic growth was released, and we learned that the economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.6% in the second quarter, covering April to June. At a White House cabinet meeting this morning, Donald Trump pointed to the figure as proof of his underappreciated successes. From the official transcript:
It’s hard to say with confidence whether Trump has any idea what the GDP is or what the quarterly reports show, but 2.6% growth is clearly not an “unbelievable number.” It’s actually quite believable.
Indeed, when the president says “nobody” expected to see quarterly growth of 2.6 “for a long period of time,” that plainly ridiculous. As recently as last fall, which really isn’t that long ago, we saw 2.8% growth.
Throughout the Obama era, most notably after the Great Recession ended, we saw plenty of individual quarters in which growth topped 4% and, at one point, 5%. Barack Obama didn’t do much to pat himself on the back, and the Democratic White House didn’t tout the figures as “unbelievable.” They were simply seen as evidence of a domestic economy that was growing steadily.
Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄 😄
Good Morning, Everyone.