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My Family, Our Cancer, and the Murderous Cruelty of Conservatives http://t.co/sE09N3S7zb via @VanityFair
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 16, 2013
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NYT: Health Insurance Within Reach
Ever since Marci Lieber, a part-time social worker in Brooklyn, learned she was pregnant, she and her husband have been scrambling to find health insurance. But insurers consider pregnancy a pre-existing condition, and won’t sell anyone a new policy that covers it.
That changes on Jan. 1, 2014, when insurers will no longer be permitted to deny coverage of pre-existing conditions — and all Americans will be required to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Ms. Lieber, 37, hopes to purchase a policy through New York State’s new health exchange as early as this October.
Just in time: the baby is due Jan. 25…..
More here
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The Daily Beast: Texas’s Unwanted-Baby Boom
Between the state’s anti-abortion bill, its move to defund contraception providers, and its war on sex education, experts predict tens of thousands of unplanned pregnancies next year.
The war on women is a nationwide phenomenon, but nowhere are women in more danger of having their reproductive health undermined at every turn than in Texas. Under the leadership of Gov. Rick Perry and a Republican Party completely in the thrall of the religious right, Christian fundamentalists have launched a three-pronged attack on the well-being of women of the state….
More here
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A peek inside my inbox: Racism & the #GeorgeZimmerman trial. http://t.co/5FH7X934p3 #TrayvonMartin
— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) July 16, 2013
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I wrote more than 60 posts seeking justice for #TrayvonMartin as if my life depended on it – because one day it might http://t.co/2Ed3MGO9Pi
— Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) July 16, 2013
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ThinkProgress: In a piece that contains the telling (even in context) line “I am a racist,” longtime Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen employed a mishmash of poorly explained statistics and bafflingly ignorant mathematical reasoning to argue that Trayvon Martin was “understandably suspected because he was black” — that is, Americans should assume any young black men they meet are criminals.
More here
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Trayvon Martin and My Old Doctor http://t.co/VHZPuGWLuC
— The People’s View (@thepeoplesview) July 16, 2013
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Richard Cohen flashback Oct. 1986: “Post Offers Apology to Blacks” http://t.co/XPXedVJ1nO
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 16, 2013
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The inadequacy of a “good heart” http://t.co/3zcAFFfr05
— Smartypants (@Smartypants32) July 16, 2013
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TPM: Holder: Time To Reexamine ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder weighed in on the “Stand Your Ground”-type laws for the first time Tuesday, saying it’s “time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.”
“These laws try to fix something that was never broken …. By allowing—and perhaps encouraging—violent situations to escalate in public, such laws undermine public safety. The list of resulting tragedies is long and, unfortunately, has victimized too many who are innocent,” he continued. “We must ‘stand our ground’ to ensure that our laws reduce violence, and take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent.”
More here
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More Evidence That It Never Was About Race http://t.co/TCOyOUoBgU
— Charles P. Pierce (@ESQPolitics) July 16, 2013
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Rachel Jeantel offered a full scholarship to any HBCU by radio host Tom Joyner http://t.co/63h8ksgd2S
— theGrio.com (@theGrio) July 16, 2013
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TPM: Ouch, Better CNBC Anchors Might Be Required:
And:
Charles Pierce: Please Stop This Fight Before Somebody Gets Hurt
The gang at CNBC’s Wall Street House Of Carnal Delights, Squawk Box, invited that silly faux-Indian woman from Massachusetts on to talk about her new bill to bring the Glass-Steagall Act back for the 21st Century. The next thing they knew, they were sprawled on the canvas, and somebody was waving ammonia capsules under their noses, and Mills Lane was standing above them, waving his arms.
More here
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Elijah Cummings Decimates Issa’s IRS Conspiracy Theory http://t.co/6RPFgBXxc5
— The People’s View (@thepeoplesview) July 16, 2013
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Senator Ed Markey, sworn in today
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Next year in Oslo, while Malala is accepting her Peace Prize, Greenwald will interrupt, “Imma let you finish, but Snowden…”
— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) July 16, 2013
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Richard Cordray confirmed to head Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 66-34, with a very pleased looking Elizabeth Warren in the chair.
— Josh Dorner (@JoshDorner) July 16, 2013
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Elizabeth Warren presiding for the 66-34 vote for Cordray as head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. #progress pic.twitter.com/ypPJiFkAMy
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) July 16, 2013
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Steve Benen: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stuck to a pretty straightforward message over the last several days: if Republicans didn’t want to see the “nuclear option” happen, they had to allow the Senate to vote on several executive-branch nominations. If the GOP minority didn’t back down, Reid said, Democrats would be left with no choice.
So Republicans backed down….
More here
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ThinkProgress: Being poor could soon be a crime in the city of Miami.
As though life weren’t already difficult enough for people who can’t afford regular housing, they could soon find themselves thrown in jail and their possessions confiscated if they’re caught engaging in certain everyday activities in public.
Before the late 1990s, Miami police frequently arrested homeless people for such “crimes” as sleeping on park benches, eating on sidewalks, or congregating in public places.
More here
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So Liz Cheney is going to challenge Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) for his seat in 2014. I love the smell of GOP cannibalism in the afternoon.
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 16, 2013
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The Obama Diary 
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/357253068376645633
FINALLY!!
Hello
Powerful stuff!
Do do do do do do doooo do do do dodo! Da da da da DA. Doooooo.
😀 😀 😀
Hey Cohen, watch your mouth!
good on you Bill
Great tweets Bill. Richard Cohen’s hatred/fear of black males goes back along way. I take him at his word that he is in fact a racist. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…….
Fantastic round-up of news Chiparoo. Elizabeth Warren? Hot damn! Going two for two today.
The ‘I Am Not Trayvon Martin” graphic is so freaking true. It happens in the good ol’ “colorblind” USA everyday and people who have been afforded that privilege all their lives are now being forced to wake up and smell the racism.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE96F18J20130716?feedType=RSS&irpc=932
You know Issa is going to jump all over this, hearings galore !!!
lockewasright…if you’re still here…sit down 🙂 We went to the same HS…I graduated from GLHS in ’75…. ( Great football team in those days!)
Then went to OSU, worked in the Ohio Union while I went to school…worked for years at University Hospitals (even got my mom to come work there in the OR)…yes, OSU and I have a good, long history…..I was even one of those Block O people on Saturday afternoons. What fun that was:)
GREAT post, Chips:) thank you so much!!
A pleasure DF, thank you – but everytime I thought I was done, something fab happened, like Richard Cordray – we may need This and That, The Sequel 😕
Oh, okay, I’ll be first on that one… 🙂
Glad that today is a day like that:) Better than the alternative!!
I was here 20 minutes ago, and was ready to be First, but had to go and make the muesli, so now I’m back. Am I 10th? 11th? Nevermind.. It is an excellent muesli!! 😉
Dear God. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/16/4168396/ut-legislator-wants-to-end-compulsory.html
SALT LAKE CITY The idea of forcing children to attend school is outdated and should be scrapped in favor of a system that encourages learning by choice, state Sen. Aaron Osmond said in calling for an end to compulsory education in Utah.
“Some parents act as if the responsibility to educate, and even care for their child, is primarily the responsibility of the public school system,” the South Jordan Republican first wrote on a state Senate blog on Friday.
“As a result, our teachers and schools have been forced to become surrogate parents, expected to do everything from behavioral counseling, to providing adequate nutrition, to teaching sex education, as well as ensuring full college and career readiness.”
Osmond said that in the current state of public education, teachers do not receive meaningful support from parents, while at the same time parents become frustrated that schools are not able to meet the individual needs of their children.
“Let’s let them choose it, let’s not force them to do it,” he told the Desert News (http://tinyurl.com/lqxb2tn ) on Monday. “I think that’s when you start seeing the shift.”
Still throwing the baby out with the bathwater….
They want education profitized, healthcare profitized, every public service that we currently enjoy — they want it based on profit. Only the rich get educated, only the rich get housing, healthcare, clean air/water — everything. Their vision of the world harkens back to feudal times really — “The Dark Ages”.
This idiot who calls himself a “Democrat for Obama” shows his true colors with his constant drivel about the Zimmerman case. Of course, he agreed with the verdict and can’t stand that people are rightfully protesting.
Democrat for Obama, yeah right.
Wow, s/he’s really losing it:
http://twitter.com/areyou0/status/357263096978472960
I’d given up going on about UniteBlue, but it was really bizarre to me how many people belonging to UniteBlue sent me abusive tweets re stuff about the Zimmerman trial, including one guy today who, I noted, called PBO a “fascist”. And this person is UniteBlue too. All very peculiar.
Wow, update:
http://twitter.com/areyou0/status/357264749211287553
Reminds me of someone whom I followed. Right after PBO came out in favor of marriage equality, he lost his shit.
Yup, he/she just blocked me. I suspect it’s a “he.” I could be wrong.
LOL who calls themselves a “Democrat for Obama”? lmao
Ha, true Forus, s/he doth protest too much??
You know what, until I read what you just wrote, that didn’t occur to me.
Yes, I saw his tweets the other day. I blocked his ass.
Must read on TPV by adept2u: http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/07/trayvon-martin-and-my-old-doctor.html
Thanks LL, will add it to the post.
It is situations like this and like the ones AG Holder mentioned today, that have me seething with rage. Those quiet little indignities that daily, that we are subjected to daily. Today, I flashed back to an incident in 1989 when my new white neighbor tried to hire me for “days work.” Her I am, an officer in the Marine Corps, sweeping the steps of the Georgetown home that my family had owned since 1893 and this bitch had the nerve to get indignant when I informed her that not only was I not the fucking maid, that we too were looking for household help!
Who is worse, Liz Cheney or Enzi? Hope they damage each other so much a Democrat sneaks into office!
About the same !
Heck, I don’t want the Dem to sneak… I want him or her to STRUT right in thumbing their nose in the face of every bagger they walk by.
That’s my liberal fantasy! 😀
I think the Latino media interviews were embargoed until 6pm. Anyone seeing anything yet?
Look up a few posts?
derp.
BravoTV had a Queer Eye For The Straight Guy Marathon yesterday. If you know me, then you know this was my show back in the day…lol. I am so ready for a 10 year reunion special!! Who’s with me???
Sitting here watching Queer Eye marathon on my DVR. Trying to figure out which one of my friends are like the guys?
Oh my goodness, I didn’t miss an episode! Love that show!
I loved this show:)
I loved Queer Eye, but I really do miss the days when Bravo and TLC showed actual educational and arts programming.
Me too LL! And remember when the History Channel wasn’t all Nazis and Nostrodamus, all the time?
Hell, I don’t mind the Nazi shows that much. At least that’s historical. Every time I have “Ancient Aliens” on for more than two minutes I feel my brain cells jumping off cliffs. Every time the narrator intones “But ancient astronaut theorists believe that…” I scream out “They’re not ‘theorists’, they’re idiots!”
Sighs. I might have a cocktail tonight.
Yes. I sigh a heavy sigh with you.
I would (possibly) pay (a small amount of) money to hear them intone, “But ancient astronaut idiots believe that…”
And there’s always the head alien theorist with the Greek name and crazy hair.
And another must-read on TPV, re Harry Reid: http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/07/how-harry-reid-effectively-neutered.html
How much do I LOVE jonfavs?
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/357220345356357632
doh!
Nature’s beauty is about the only thing I wanna see coming out of Wyoming… other than a Democratic Senate win, of course. 🙂
Oh gaaaaaaawd, that is BEAUTIFUL Dudette – I feel all peaceful and serene!
Can’t go wrong following @Interior. Their photos are spectacular!
You ARE peaceful and serene, Chipsticks! {{{{CC}}}}
NO I’M NOT!!!!!! 😆
Hellooooooooo MightyP!
[Quietly turns her head to cough…] 🙂
Well then, you just come right on over here, sit with me and kitty and a cup of tea, and soon you will be!
I’m on my way!!!!! 🙂
Wow! That’s gorgeous.
“Liz Cheney for Senate slogan: Not the Dick You Know, But Close”
Gold medal!!
Isn’t that just perfect?!!
Toooooooooooo good, Dudette!!!
Perfect!
This is a link to a thoughtful piece that explains what white privilege is, and how its often conflated with male privilege (since the MSM baseline is basically from male white privilege).
I am not white, nor black, nor male.
But we learn by viewing things, life in general, from another person’s perspective.
https://twitter.com/Joe4more/status/357169201003241472
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html
That’s quite good! Thanks for sharing it, Arapaho. Here are two books that are really quite good in analyzing “white privilege”:
1. “The Possessive investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit From Identity Politics” by Gorge Lipsitz.
2.”understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race” by Frances Kendall
One of my days off I’ll have to sit watching my twitter scroll so I can start unfollowing people who’ve lost their ever loving minds. I could probably clear a lot of people off.
Clicking that block button is my daily treat, LL. I cleared some beauts today, including the UniteBlue-PBO-is-a-fascist-guy, and a delightful anti-Semitic freak. All human life.
Blocking and Unfollowing… two master strokes of genius from the Twitter-Gods! All Hail! 😀
The Secret Power Of Black Twitter
https://twitter.com/Mercedes_Shine/status/357153202426220545
I hope the President pardons this lady very soon.
I don’t think he can. It’s a state crime, not federal.
From the DOJ website: “Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President.”
Can the State Supreme Court take up her case as been unconstitutional? or unequal treatment under the law?
Once her state appeals are exhausted, then her lawyers can appeal to federal court. Either side can take it up to SCOTUS, but the Court is under no obligation to hear the case.
Read a little more today on Marissa Alexander and while her sentence was outrageous, her case wasn’t as straightforward as I’d thought from earlier reports.
She was abused by her husband, he was a thug, and that should most certainly have been taken in to account, but from the story of what happened, I can understand why she was found guilty.
She was no Zimmerman, that’s for sure, but I don’t really think now that the cases should be compared.
Still, again, the sentence was beyond belief.
http://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/357277661288087552
This lady would fit right in!
https://twitter.com/Dudette9t9/status/357278269780926464
Deleted and fixed 🙂
I’m offering the following information merely for clarity and to inform. Just wanted to share this with you:
These are the arrest stats from the FBI for 2011.
# of Burglary Arrests reported in 2011 – 84,863
62,196 White – 73.3%
21,785 Black – 25.7%
Just in case you’re interested:
# of Murder and manslaughter Arrests in 2011 – 2,599
1442 White – 55.5%
1,113 Black – 42.8%
Much has been made of drug use with claims that the races use them in equal proportions.
# of Drug Abuse Violations in 2011 – 485,043
361,520 White – 74.5%
117,693 Black – 24.3%
In fairness, arrests of Latinos are counted with Whites, but that still doesn’t change the percentages attributed to Blacks.
Bet you never would have guessed. It’s the media!
“It’s the media!” — Truer words never spoken! Thank you FayPax!
https://twitter.com/jchjackson/status/357194106272882688
Good grief:
http://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/357279912907911168
Nothing pisses me off more than when someone who is not being slighted tells the people who actually being slighted to stop being so sensitive or to quit overreacting! It makes my blood boil. Don’t EVER tell somebody to who’s experience you can’t possibly relate how they should feel and what should be offensive to them.
$#@%!!!! How the hell is it even possible to overreact to an unarmed kid being murdered!
😎
https://twitter.com/Our4thEstate/status/357282151382790144
#TrustBarack
Haha—-just tried to move in on my 3 yr. old grandson on the couch for a big smooch. He kinda shifted away from me and earnestly explained, “I’m taking a break.” Hahahahaha. Rebuffed! I’m not bitter though—-he’s too cute and makes me laugh almost continuously while he’s here. Like when he was enjoying his blueberry pie—–he was making “mmmmmm” noises with every bite and then announced, “Mmmmmm, pie. I love pie. P-I-E. Pie. “
Awwwww A little Barack with his pie!
That’s so cute!
Tooooo Cute….:-)
“I’m taking a break.”
hahahahahahaha baby speak in the context of “I have a headache”. how cute. 🙂
A neutron walks into a bar and asks for a beer. When the bartender brings it over the neutron says: “How much do I owe you?” The bartender replies: “For you, there is no charge.”
smh….hehehehe
Tee-hee-hee-heeeeeeee!
You had that waiting for me, didn’t you?
😀
Actually, no. BUT, I *am* a librarian. My search-fu is strong.
I guess the combination of ‘search’ and ‘librarian’ brought this to mind:
Maybe we could give our country back to the Native Americans, since we “took their ground”?
With the sad news that Glee star Cory Monteith died of a deadly mix of heroin and alcohol, my daughter asks how coroners in Canada can get toxicology reports in one day when it takes U.S. counterparts weeks.
Might be efficiency, or more labs, or fact they have about 35M people and we have about 300M, mostly grouped in high-population urban areas? Perhaps one of our friends from Canada would be able to respond. Good question.
USA prefers to do things the old fashion way. No need to modernize our processes.
I like this fellow!
Ha!!!
Liberals are so clever.
New Post http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/16/we-must-stand-our-ground/
The more I see of Elizabeth Warren, the more I like her. I can totally see her as a butt-kicking president.