Tuesday Open Thread | Christmas Jams 2017

Posted on December 5, 2017 by SouthernGirl2

Christmas candles 84Sleigh 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.

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.
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54 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | Christmas Jams 2017

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 5, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    There is still hope in this world. You did good. Now go out there and stand up for your country to protect it with all of your might. God’s blessings be with you!

    https://twitter.com/JeffFlake/status/938160754490052609

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 8:18 pm

      Now, if only he’d stop with the endless empty lip-service and worse, unabashedly and reliably still voting lock-step with the rest of his greedy, callous, treasonous party …And actually start *doing* the right thing by voting against some the really offensive stuff he continues to vote for right along with his awful party ..

      Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    Another UGLY Q-Poll for GOP:
    GOP tax plan approval: 29%
    Trump approval: 35%
    Generic House poll 50-36 +14D!
    Generic Senate poll 51-37D
    Holy Gender Gap Batman:
    58-29 Women want Ds to control House.
    45-42 Men want Rs.https://t.co/5hKYVoulnL

    — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    I had missed this one:

    Everything You Need to Know About Meghan Markle’s ‘Level of Blackness,’ Explained

    Damon Young
    11/27/17 2:53pm

    Who is Meghan Markle?

    She’s my second-favorite alum of USA Network’s Suits, the possessor of an alliterative name that kinda, sorta sounds like the name of a women’s hosiery brand sold only at Macy’s and the new fiancee of Prince Harry.

    ……………………..

    There’s also been a conversation about whether Meghan Markle even deserves this type of specifically black-ass attention because she might not identify as black. Basically, she’s not black enough to get any love from black people.

    Yeah, I know. And that’s fucking dumb. Meghan Markle was born black and is gonna die black. Her mom is from freakin’ Crenshaw, Calif., for Chrissake. If your mom is from the exact-same place where “I hate the back of Forest Whitaker’s neck” was said, any offspring she has will be blacker than a bottle of S-curl activator. It’s science.

    But what if Meghan Markle rejects her blackness?

    She hasn’t done that. But even if she had, well, that ain’t her choice to make. Her saying, “Yeah, I’m not black” would be like me saying, “Yeah, I’m going to be 6 feet 7 inches from now on.” People who know me would say, “Um, Damon. I’m sorry, but you’re 6 feet 2 inches now and you haven’t grown since you were 19. Stilts might help, maybe?” And people who hate me would still say, “I hate your 6-foot-2 ass. Fuck you and your 74 inches, b.” That I called myself 6 feet 7 inches wouldn’t mean shit to anyone. Except maybe a psychologist. Or an optometrist.

    Setup Timeout Error: Setup took longer than 30 seconds to complete.
    The world sees her as a black woman. The hate mail and racist tweets directed toward her are because of said blackness, not her character arc with Mike Ross. The people attempting to be the arbiters of Meghan Markle’s lack of blackness need a new hill to die on.

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    He’s written some tough stuff about him and his mother.

    My Mother Is White. I Am Not: On Being Biracial Without Identity Issues

    Panama Jackson
    Today 12:10pm

    Editor’s note: This piece speaks from the perspective of being biracial with black and white parents. I realize that other biracial ethnic mixes may or may not share any of these experiences.

    …………………………

    Self-identity is defined as the recognition of one’s potential and qualities as an individual, especially in relation to social context.

    Self-identity.

    Here is where I point out some facts about myself. I am mixed. I’m the product of a Caucasian woman from France and a black man from Alabama. I will tell you, without hesitation, that I am biracial.

    What I will also tell you, without hesitation and with pride, is that I’m black. I identify as black. I was raised that way. I was raised in a household by my black father and black stepmother and my black sisters. My upbringing was full of blackness, not even intentionally but by virtue of who my parents are. My white mother obviously had a hand in raising me—we spent summers with her in Michigan—but largely, my foundation, self-esteem, pride and identity were crafted by my black parents.

    And also by society. I grew up overseas, and while we were mostly Americans to our German hosts, the word nigger isn’t just an American term. The difference between being black and white was made clear from an early age and my father made sure to prepare me for that. Be who you—just don’t forget who they see.

    Rude awakenings are not my ministry. While my self-identity wasn’t shaped to protect me from the big, bad world, it did instill in me a sense of pride in who I was. I am mixed, but I’m black and I learned lessons from that vantage point. That’s how I grew up.

    Let me also say that I’ve never, in my entire life, had anybody tell me I wasn’t black enough or that I wasn’t white enough. I don’t know if that’s because of the energy I put out, my surroundings or because I’m a man—maybe it’s all three, but I think it’s worth mentioning that I’ve never dealt with the “stereotypical mixed kid struggle.”

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    Russians kicked out of 2018 Olympics.

    Reply
  6. SouthernGirl2 says:
    December 5, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    It’s what he wants. ALWAYS instigating.

    These thugs aren’t going to stop until the wrath of God comes down.

    https://twitter.com/iloanya1/status/938123648208171008

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/938099236679405569

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 8:53 pm

      There’s very good reason why die-hard Zionists like Haim Saban …highly-prized Clinton friend, confidant and supporter, are just as protective and supportive of ..and still unabashedly playing public footsie with Jared Kushner..

      For anyone who ever wondered why so many who would normally be screaming blue murder aren’t… and are busy instead turning a blind eye or actively colluding and protecting and stroking the vacuous evil that currently resides in our People’s House..

      It’s not just about the promise of tax breaks.. it’s also about extracting favors that serve their own various personal priorities..

      When an easily flattered and manipulated insecure and incurious megalomaniac buffoon who has no clue and won’t even read a book or policy paper, temporarily holds ‘power’, the wily opportunistic sharks circle ..

      This is Jared at the Saban Forum – a so-called US-Israeli dialogue, just 2 nights ago.. Bibi Netanyahu also spoke at the forum via video…

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vkdiD-hHib0

      “..Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the president of the United States, adressed the Saban Forum in a keynote conversation with Haim Saban, the chairman of The Saban Forum…”

      http://m.jpost.com/American-Politics/WATCH-Jared-Kushner-addresses-Saban-Fourm-515891

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 9:50 pm

      Remember this Haim Saban produced video at the Saban Forum gala celebrating Hillary… with glowing tributes from Netanyahu, Tony Blair, Ehud Barak, John McCain, Henry Kissinger etc. when they were all gleefully gearing up for her takeover… So impatient were they then, that they even mulled a scenario where she might even potentially challenge her then boss during his re-election …after they’d been doing some private and very public undermining of him on her and their behalf.. but now they’ve moved on to Jared and the buffoon ..

      These folks ain’t loyal..

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cgIK3LBc-GI

      As my profoundly wise, prophetic and percipient historic First Lady who I so adore and respect has often contended, there’s nothing noble about politics …

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 8:31 pm

      The reliably pedestrian playbook of vacant despots …dubiously installed as puppets in unearned leadership spots they’re ill-equipped and ill-prepared for … and once in crisis and flailing, create distractions dreamed up by self-serving handlers and benefactors, including throwing out potentially devastating foreign policy wrenches .. in a desperate bid to take the spotlight off their various personal troubles and the well-run investigation quickly closing in..

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 10:08 pm

      We are living in an upside down world where the wily Saudis are at once manipulating and running circles around the megalomaniac buffoon are alarmed that his largely uninformed and competing ‘commitments’ to his various diverse benefactors, owners, flatterers and parade throwers, might potentially throw their well-laid plans and their region in general, into unimaginable chaos..

      Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 11:21 am

    BREAKING: The Atlantic is reporting that VP Mike Pence had gone behind Trump’s back to the RNC and offered to replace Trump on the GOP ticket after the Access Hollywood tape came out. Additionally there are reports that Pence’s wife HATES Trump.— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 10:51 am

    The Retaliatory State: How Trump Is Turning Government Into a Weapon of Revenge
    By Jonathan Chait

    ………………………

    Moore argues that subjecting income spent on state and local taxes to federal taxation – a change Republicans might be expected to oppose as a form of double taxation – will have the delicious secondary effect of pressuring state government to shrink. “The big blue states either cut their taxes and costs, or the stampede of high-income residents from these states accelerates,” he gloats. “The big losers here are the public employee unions – the mortal enemies of Republicans. This all works out nicely.”

    Moore likewise praises the plan for taxing university endowments. Republicans in general, and Moore with special fervency, typically oppose taxes on wealth. But he waxes enthusiastic about this wealth tax. “The first shot against the University Industrial Complex has finally been fired,” he exults. […]

    Note that this line of reasoning does not even pretend to treat the proposed taxation of university endowments as a fair or technically superior reform of tax policy. Moore advertises his belief, no doubt widely shared within the party, that it is an attack on an institution whose political views his party abhors. Supply-side economics has given way to revenge-o-nomics.

    For eight years, the notion of a gangster government using its power to punish its enemies existed as a lurid persecution fantasy on the right. Now it is being touted as a governing blueprint.

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 10:49 am

    Seeing the Republican tax plan as a tool to punish Democrats
    12/05/17 10:01 AM—UPDATED 12/05/17 10:21 AM
    By Steve Benen

    ………………………

    The Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who worked with the Trump campaign last year, told Bloomberg Politics the GOP tax policy is “death to Democrats.”

    “They go after state and local taxes, which weakens public employee unions,” Moore said. “They go after university endowments, and universities have become play pens of the left. And getting rid of the mandate is to eventually dismantle Obamacare.”

    I suppose Moore is to be thanked for his unusual level of candor. Ordinarily, one might expect proponents of the regressive Republican plan to at least pretend it’s the result of serious and deliberate policymaking from elected officials motivated by nothing but the public’s best interests.

    Moore isn’t bothering with the pretense. He describes the GOP proposal as a political weapon to be wielded against Democrats and their allies – which Moore sees as a feature of the Republican plan, not a bug.

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 10:42 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/1/17
    Why did Trump ignore repeated warnings Flynn was compromised?
    Rachel Maddow looks at the warnings Donald Trump received about Mike Flynn and the inexplicable way Trump held Flynn in favor even after he left office.

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 10:37 am

    Remember after the health care vote when Mainers erupted with spontaneous applause for @SenatorCollins at the airport? Here’s the reaction now 👇🏼#mepoliticshttps://t.co/A76N1DBQQP pic.twitter.com/14RKkoJSJb

    — Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) December 4, 2017

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 10:14 pm

      Way under budget and a real bargain as far as many of us are concerned..

      Whatever it costs Mr. Mueller… just get the treasonous Russian-installed squatters out of the People’s House..

      Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:41 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/4/17
    White House offers conflicting stories on firing Flynn for lies
    Carol Leonnig, reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about what Donald Trump knew about Mike Flynn’s lies to the FBI, when he knew it and who told him as different versions are being put forth by different players in the case.

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:37 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/4/17
    Protesters out in droves objecting to Republican tax bill
    Rachel Maddow looks at protests across the United States against the Republican tax bill, recognized widely as a giveaway to corporations and rich people at the expense of middle class Americans.

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:29 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/4/17
    Trump team turns to specious legal arguments as pressure builds
    Bob Bauer, former White House counsel, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump’s legal jeopardy in the Russia scandal, and whether Trump has it within his power to make the Robert Mueller and the Trump Russia investigation go away.

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:24 am

    What Happens to National Security After Gutting the State Department
    Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson are engaging in mindless vandalism in Foggy Bottom.

    by James Bruno December 5, 2017

    The drama regarding whether Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will remain in his job is over—at least for now—but the question remains whether the Trump team will continue to wield a wrecking ball against the State Department. The prospects don’t look good, and the repercussions on foreign policy are potentially dangerous.

    Since he came into the job ten months ago, the former ExxonMobil CEO has presided over the depletion of State’s senior ranks as he obsesses over spreadsheets at the expense of diplomacy. As Barbara Stephenson, president of the American Foreign Service Association, wrote:

    The Foreign Service officer corps at State has lost 60 percent of its Career Ambassadors since January. Ranks of Career Ministers, our three-star equivalents, are down from 33 to 19. The ranks of our two-star Minister Counselors have fallen from 431 right after Labor Day to 369 today—and are still falling…Were the U.S. military to face such a decapitation of its leadership ranks, I would expect a public outcry.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 10:19 pm

      Betsy Devos’ unsavory, greedy, UAE, Russia and Seychelles-loving bro Erik Prince and bungling felon Ollie North – ‘general’, will take over …offering ‘services’ at a whopping discount ..

      Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:22 am

    Republicans Broke Congress. Now What?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    December 5, 2017

    Over the weekend Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein took their assertion about asymmetric polarization one step further and wrote, “How the Republicans Broke Congress.” They pointed to three steps in the process:

    First, beginning in the 1990s, the Republicans strategically demonized Congress and government more broadly and flouted the norms of lawmaking, fueling a significant decline of trust in government that began well before the financial collapse in 2008, though it has sped up since…

    Second, there was the “Obama effect”…we saw a deliberate Republican strategy to oppose all of his initiatives and frame his attempts to compromise as weak or inauthentic. The Senate under the majority leader Mitch McConnell weaponized the filibuster to obstruct legislation, block judges and upend the policy process…

    Third, we have seen the impact of significant changes in the news media, which had a far greater importance on the right than on the left.

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:14 am

    Race Bannon had his set of lies about the Flynn mess set up because of the old lies that Dolt45 told. Now that they’re trying to change the narrative of the Flynn mess, with regards to Dolt45, that makes Pence’s lies obsolete. They went around trying to protect Dolt45, and Pence is left out on the branch alone.

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/4/17
    Trump lawyers change defense on collusion and obstruction
    Rachel Maddow points out that Donald Trump’s lawyers’ arguments about Trump’s legal liability in the Russia scandal have changed from denying Trump’s actions to excusing them as not illegal. Also noted is that Mike Pence’s lies about Mike Flynn need a new explanation.

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:06 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/4/17
    News gods signal busy holiday season
    Rachel Maddow notes that the news in between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be quiet as audiences and newsmakers are distracted by the holidays. This year that does not appear to be the case, however.

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:59 am

    Trump transition official K.T. McFarland, who emailed that Russia had “just thrown the U.S. election” to Trump, wrote this in 2013: “Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize.” https://t.co/QA9RgghtT8

    — Anthony De Rosa 🗽 (@Anthony) December 4, 2017

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:58 am

    It Ain’t Paranoia If You’re Really Being Investigated
    by Martin Longman
    December 4, 2017

    Today, Darren Samuelsohn of Politico provides us with yet another article about how people in the White House are freaked out and worried that everyone they talk to is wearing a wire. There are a lot of silly things in this piece, including the dubious idea that no one can ever be surreptitiously recorded if they have a lawyer. Find me a mob boss who doesn’t have a lawyer.

    But the main problem is with something that goes completely unstated. Yes, it would certainly be unnerving to go to work each day wondering if any of your conversations are being listened to by federal law enforcement officers. I get that, and I think you get that, too. But it wouldn’t make you paranoid for your own safety unless you’re in the habit of having incriminating conversations with your friends and colleagues at work.

    ………………………………………………………….

    If we’re talking about Paulie Walnuts having a conversation at that bar in the Bada Bing, then I can see how a wiretap aimed at one crime might uncover another. But, is the White House the criminal equivalent of a mobbed up Jersey strip joint?

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:55 am

    Chinese air force holds drills in ‘new areas’ near Korean peninsula

    In a warning to THE UNITED STATES & SOUTH KOREA.

    I keep saying this but nobody listens, THEY ARE NOT OUR ALLY

    They will not side with us in a war with North Korea.

    Trump got played!

    https://t.co/9UZURELs0u

    — Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Just so folks realize, GOP embrace of Moore is a preview of GOP’s embrace of firing Mueller and and GOP’s embrace of idea Trump can’t be prosecuted for obstruction of justice.

    — Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:47 am

    There are now 354 women running for US House in 2018 (291 Democrats & 63 Republicans, for 435 seats). In the 33 US Senate races at stake next year, there are 38 women running (25 Democrats & 13 Republicans). This is unprecedented (and long overdue).https://t.co/Y590u7i8oM

    — Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:45 am

    I know it’s The Intercept, but this is Prince, and he’s been trying to find a way to fleece the US Government again.

    TRUMP WHITE HOUSE WEIGHING PLANS FOR PRIVATE SPIES TO COUNTER “DEEP STATE” ENEMIES
    Matthew Cole, Jeremy Scahill
    December 4 2017, 9:24 p.m

    THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Trump’s presidency.

    The creation of such a program raises the possibility that the effort would be used to create an intelligence apparatus to justify the Trump administration’s political agenda.

    “Pompeo can’t trust the CIA bureaucracy, so we need to create this thing that reports just directly to him,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official with firsthand knowledge of the proposals, in describing White House discussions. “It is a direct-action arm, totally off the books,” this person said, meaning the intelligence collected would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or the larger intelligence community. “The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo directly.”

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      December 5, 2017 at 10:33 pm

      What could possibly go wrong..

      A privately held corporation replacing sensitive and invaluable government run institutions like the CIA.. welcome to a hostile foreign entity owned and propelled megalomaniac buffoon’s America… Can’t control or make the CIA beholden to him and his Russian benefactors, so take control via a privately held set-up, to thwart, rid themselves of pesky ‘obstacles’ …pertinent checks and balances..

      Erik Prince, brother of Betsy DeVos who met with Russians secretly in the Seychelle Islands to set up a secret backchannel to Putin *before* the megalomaniac buffoon took up residence in the People’s House …together with Iran Contra felon Ollie North..?

      What a potent mix greed, power, paranoia and treason ..

      Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:38 am

    Trump’s personal banking information handed over to Robert Mueller
    Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump’s biggest lender, is forced to submit documents after special prosecutor issues subpoena

    Donald Trump’s personal banking information has formally been turned over to Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating whether the president’s campaign conspired with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election.

    Bloomberg reported early on Tuesday that Deutsche Bank, the German bank that serves as Trump’s biggest lender, had been forced to submit documents about its client relationship with the president after Mueller issued the bank with a subpoena for information.

    The new revelation makes it clear that Mueller and his team are investigating the president’s financial transactions. It is not clear whether Mueller is interested in the bank accounts because they are connected to the Russia probe or if he is investigating another matter.

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Weeks ago Deutsche Bank was served w a Mueller subpoena & has been providing bank records involving Trump & his family.

    Trump, his companies, Ivanka, Melania & Jared Kushner have all been Deutsche customers.

    The bank appears to be cooperating fully. https://t.co/weULLYkeBD

    — RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) December 5, 2017

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    December 5, 2017 at 4:32 am

    Good Morning,Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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