Friday Open Thread | Nina Simone Week

Posted on June 28, 2019 by rikyrah

TGIF, Everyone! Hope you have been enjoying this week’s music by Ms Nina Simone.

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95 Responses to Friday Open Thread | Nina Simone Week

  2. SouthernGirl2 says:
    June 28, 2019 at 7:31 pm

    Check email, ladies

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 3:23 pm

    Who’s on Top? The Root’s 2020 Presidential Black Power Rankings, Week 1

    Jason Johnson
    Wednesday 6:00pm

    Welcome to The Root’s Black Power Rankings, where we assess the eleventy-billion Democrats currently running for the chance to face off against Donald Trump for the presidency. Every single candidate running right now knows they need to win black voters to have a chance at the Democratic nomination. Yet how does a campaign know how they’re faring with African Americans when time after time we’ve seen these polls ain’t loyal when it comes to the black vote?

    As a service to our readers and the entire NCAA bracket sized slate of Democratic candidates, The Root is dropping our own Black Power Ranking of where the 2020 contenders stand with black voters. Think of it like those weekly power rankings for NFL or NBA teams, but without all the racism and statistics.

    We will have a rotating panel of experts and judges, including consultants, former candidates, and campaign insiders, curated by The Root’s own political editor, Dr. Jason Johnson (yours truly). This week our special guest expert is Marcus Ferrell, the former head of African-American outreach for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign.

    How do you rank a campaign’s Black Power? Well, we have our “FLEX” rating, aka:

    Finances: Are you paying black staff, advertisers, consultants?
    Legislation: What legislation are you pushing or have passed for black people?
    External Polling: No matter how good you are for black people, if your poll numbers are terrible we can’t rank you that high!
    X-Factor: What’s your rhetoric like? How do you handle a crisis or the kinds of events and scandals that directly impact black lives?

    So, without further ado, here are this week’s top 10 rankings:
    #1: Sen. Kamala Harris

    All of our judges had Harris ranked first or second for our Week 1 ranking, despite serious misgivings just a few weeks ago. Harris’s initiative to organize on HBCU campuses means money, training and campaign experience for black students in 2020. Her speech at the South Carolina Democratic Convention last week was the best she’s ever given. Lastly, she marched into the convention with a drumline from Lower Richland High School and thanked all the marchers. And managed to keep on rhythm. That’s a good week.

    #2: Sen. Cory Booker

    A week ago Booker would’ve barely broken the Top 10 on our Black Power Rankings but a good week has him back in the running. His speech during the reparations hearings was passionate, sincere and showed his commitment to HB 40. He gave the best short speech at Rep. James Clyburn’s South Carolina fish fry on Friday and had a huge team on the ground. Booker was one of the first candidates to take it to former Vice President Joe Biden after his “very civil people” comment about Southern segregationists. This new spicy Cory Booker just might have a chance at this nomination.

    #3: Former Vice President Joe Biden

    Amongst our judges, ranking Biden was up there with a very contentious game of bid whist, an intense outdoor pick-up basketball game in 80-degree South Carolina heat, and a Thanksgiving all-night-long game of Black Card Revoked. Some had him as high as 2. Others, at 7. Biden’s white-splaining of his chummy relationship with segregationists dropped him several spots. However, his ability to bring out Reps. James Clyburn and John Lewis to his defense either means he’s got a lot of juice with the black community or he’s already in trouble and had to bring out the big guns early. (Shouldn’t you save John Lewis for defending your pro-segregationist busing policies or something?) Despite a sizable lead in the national polls, Joe Biden starts our rankings on thin ice.

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — White supremacist sentenced to life in prison for deadly car attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 28, 2019

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 28, 2019 at 1:41 pm

      LOL Mayor Pete is going to learn the hard way, that every move he and the candidates make is going under the microscope. It doesn’t mean he has to stand on a ladder and doesn’t want to see the kids.

      Yet we know it’s all about optics, for these kinds of campaigns.

      Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 12:40 pm

    A Wild Night on MSNBC: Why the Latest Presidential Debate Has Donald Trump Shook—and 4 More Observations

    Jason Johnson
    Today 10:38am

    Thursday’s debate was Donald Trump’s biggest nightmare: A loud, creative, diverse and television-ready slugfest that lasted for two hours, went off the rails a few times and left the audience wanting more.

    While policy matters, Donald Trump knows that his biggest weapon against any Democratic challenger is making enough of a circus that issues, facts, and values don’t matter. The only way to beat that is to come up with a bigger, louder show where facts do matter, policy can seem cool and you still have a car wreck factor. That and more happened in Thursday night’s Democratic debate, a debate that will totally throw a wrench in our 2020 Black Power Rankings next week. For now, here are the top 4 takeaways from the second Democratic debate.

    ………………………………….

    It goes without saying that despite the memes, the tweets and the endless post-Super Bowl-type analysis from the debates that nothing substantially changed after these two nights. Not one frontrunner fell, but some middle-tier candidates have likely punched a ticket to the second debate. Joe Biden is still a weak frontrunner; Kamala Harris will still have to work hard to win over older black voters and men; and Bernie Sanders, along with Pete Buttigieg, will still struggle to reach double digits with black voters.

    What they did show Thursday night, however, is that more candidates are in this 2020 campaign to win it than most voters thought. Perhaps, more importantly, the Democratic bench is much more interesting and compelling than the 20 nameless faces that caused eye rolls and late night jokes just 72 hours ago. This is going to be a long competitive campaign, which is the last thing that Donald Trump wants, and likely the best thing for the American voter.

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 12:38 pm

    17 Million Watched Last Night’s Debate
    June 28, 2019

    Thursday night’s Democratic debate was the highest-rated Democratic match-up in Nielsen ratings history, CNN reports.

    “Final viewership numbers won’t be available until Friday afternoon. But the so-called ‘overnight’ ratings, recording how many households tuned in, showed a 15 to 20 percent increase over Wednesday, which was night one of the two-night event… Given the strong household rating for Thursday night, the total viewership could be in the ballpark of 17 million.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/28/media/nbc-democratic-debate-ratings-night-two/index.html

    Reply
  21. Liza says:
    June 28, 2019 at 12:13 pm

    Appointed Martha is trying so hard to re-invent herself…
    https://twitter.com/RepresentMeAZ/status/1144634054798479360

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 11:47 am

    Jimmy Carter: “Everyday we send a disgraceful signal around the world, that this is what the present U.S. government stands for, and that is torture and kidnapping of little children.”

    He called the tactics of ICE “a disgrace to the United States.

    “https://t.co/CY4ax1Qqk8— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 28, 2019

    Reply
  24. Tyren M says:
    June 28, 2019 at 10:55 am

    Good morning 3Chics,
    Having watched the debates, I was glad to see Castro and Harris do their thing. Now hopefully they can cut some of the riff raff out and get into it. Glad to see Bernie falling off. Soon Pete will too despite media fellation. Then we’ll see who can make the case about why or why not Kamala or Julian over Joe. Have a good day all.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 28, 2019 at 11:06 am

      Will John Meacham a presidential biographer and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin write about the ugly hard facts about scumbag 45?

      Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 10:43 am

    Former president Jimmy Carter calls Trump an “illegitimate president”

    Former US president Jimmy Carter called Trump an “illegitimate president” at a conference for his Carter Center.

    Carter said a full investigation “would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016,” in comments first reported by USA Today Washington bureau chief, Susan Page.

    “He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf,” Carter continued.

    The event moderator, Jon Meacham, asked if that meant Carter thought that Trump was an illegitimate president.

    “Based on what I said, which I can’t retract,” Carter said.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 28, 2019 at 11:23 am

      See, this is how folks are gonna role with these Dem candidates. It’s fair game. And anytime one of them who gets the platform, they will start checking each other and they will be be checked.

      The media carried an ocean of water for 45, and let that fucker float into our White House.

      Let it play it play out. They all have the right to confront, debate, beg, borrow, and yes, even steal ideas. when it comes to blackening the oval, I will decide who to vote for.

      Reply
  28. Liza says:
    June 28, 2019 at 10:24 am

    Where would we be without Twitter? I’m going to admit I’m laughing…
    https://twitter.com/Jbrous14/status/1144471417162874881

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 28, 2019 at 10:27 am

      I’ve admitted here via my post that I wasn’t a Hillary fan, and did in fact grabbed onto some of the super predator narrative and emails bullshit.

      But I voted for Hillary Clinton, like a majority of BLACK WOMEN VOTERS, because we weren’t raised by fools. And we can see the forest for the trees.

      It’s called REALITY & not IDEOLOGY

      Wokies aren’t woke. And until we get that motherfucker, 45 out of the White House, we will still be living in this NIGHTMARE.

      Reply
  34. Ametia says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:58 am

    Word of the Day : June 28, 2019

    Volition: noun voh-LISH-un

    Definition
    1 : the power of choosing or determining : will

    2 : an act of making a choice or decision; also : a choice or decision made

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:45 am

    Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) Tweeted:
    This take is a little spicier than usual.
    But the John Roberts decision in this case will lead to violence if left unchallenged and un-revoked. A polity cannot indefinitely survive subjugation by an insular racial minority, as Roberts here tries to protect white rule. https://t.co/Y0bIoDn9VG https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1144341192395673600?s=17

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:31 am

    Mike Sacks (@MikeSacksEsq) Tweeted:
    OK, my gut just spoke again:

    Roberts may have given the administration another chance to pass go with the citizenship question. But I think he’s done with it, as he was with attempts to kill Obamacare, and will rule accordingly should the issue come back to SCOTUS. https://twitter.com/MikeSacksEsq/status/1144301863141068801?s=17

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:28 am

    Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) Tweeted:
    Okay, the Census case is weird, but my read is Roberts saying: “Yo, @realDonaldTrump if you want me to allow your racism you simply MUST give me better cover than this. Maybe you’re comfortable wearing a hat, but I really need my *hood*, brother.” https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1144255139114627072?s=17

    Reply
  43. Liza says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:28 am

    So what about those debates? I was just thinking that no one changed my opinion one way or the other. I was already leaning toward Julian Castro and, at least for the time being, I’m supporting him unless someone produces pictures of him stomping on puppies.

    Kamala going after Joe last night was interesting. I’ve noticed that people are divided on whether or not this was the right thing to do. It was clearly planned, certainly not spontaneous. But I think that she (and her handlers) calculated that this was an opportunity to “expose” the front runner and chip into that lead. This is about winning.

    I’ve said this before, but Joe has been around so damn long that he’s been on both sides of many issues. But his most recent accomplishment is to have been a very good VP for eight years for the best president in my lifetime. So, yeah, dig back far enough and he’s got some baggage but he can certainly claim redemption.

    Other than that, I think there are just too many candidates and it’s exhausting listening to all of them. Some of these folks need to start dropping off.

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:27 am

    Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) Tweeted:
    @JosephPatrice I thought I was going to end up calling the Roberts gerrymandering decision “willfully ignorant.” But it’s not. He’s not pretending not to understand how gerrymandering works, he’s straight up saying that he doesn’t give a good goddamn. https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1144248528958631936?s=17

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      June 28, 2019 at 9:38 am

      President Obama tried to do good for this racist country because policy must address the needs of the aggregate, not the individual. And within the aggregate there are good people, deserving people, children, etc… If you start looking at individuals you might crawl into a hole and never come out.

      Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:19 am

    😠😠😠
    Where is Black Lives Matter?🤔

    https://twitter.com/RogueCharisma/status/1144319431079632896

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 9:13 am

    Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) Tweeted:
    Donald Trump Jr. has questions about whether Kamala Harris is black. Here’s a reminder to Democrats: these motherfuckers are not only racist but they are literally projecting who they know can defeat Donald Trump. https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1144448545031950336?s=17

    Reply
  69. SouthernGirl2 says:
    June 28, 2019 at 8:33 am

    Let me get myself some coffee. I don’t feel so good about the day.

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      June 28, 2019 at 8:57 am

      Because of the debates?

      Reply
      • SouthernGirl2 says:
        June 28, 2019 at 9:52 am

        Yes. I didn’t care for Kamala’s move last night in attacking Joe Biden. Sure Joe runs at the mouth but PBO chose him as his VP and he was damn proud of Joe. Attacking Joe Biden is not going to move me in her corner. And it’s not going to move other Black folks either. I was reading on facebook last night and folks aren’t feeling Kamala. Some said don’t pay it any attention because it could be white trolls trying to start division. NOPE! These are Black people. My followers and friends followers who are Black. Mythe is one of them. She’s ride or die Joe. Ain’t no changing her mind.

        Reply
      • Liza says:
        June 28, 2019 at 10:15 am

        My nephew (the one who is a professor at Cornell) spent a year in Washington DC as a science adviser to Senator Ed Markey during the Obama Administration. He likes Biden, he thinks Joe is the right guy to clean up the ugly mess that Trump will leave behind. He’s ride or die Joe, saw him in action.

        The next polls should be interesting. We’ll see if these debates moved the needle.

        Reply
  70. rikyrah says:
    June 28, 2019 at 7:48 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄 😄😄

    Reply

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