I am a man of a certain age, and for better and worse, the 1980’s were my formative musical years. (Thankfully, think U2 rather than Debbie Gibson.) And a big part of my musical landscape was the music coming out of the UK & environs. So, a bit of nostalgia for a November night.
U2, Live at Red Rocks – October / New Year’s Day
The Clash – London Calling & Train in Vain
Continue reading ‘night owl music chat – where I relive the 80’s’
President Obama stands with VP Biden in the Green Room of the White House prior to delivering a statement on the economy in the East Room, Nov. 9, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Chat away!
President Obama shakes hands before he talks about the importance of growing the U.S. economy while at the Port of New Orleans in Louisiana, November 8
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First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a workshop at the White House for high school students about careers in film. At left is producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein and at right actress Blake Lively
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Chaaaaaaat away!
1:10 EDT: President Obama delivers remarks in New Orleans
Also at White House Live * C-Span * CBenghaziS
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1:0: First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a workshop for high school students interested in filmmaking careers
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President Obama waves as he departs the White House – the President is traveling to New Orleans and Miami today
The previous President, after the attacks of 9/11, engineered a war with a state which, though abysmal to its own people, had had no direct or indirect link with any terror attack on the United States. It was, if anything, a mortal enemy of the group which carried out the attacks, as that group saw the ruling regime as corrupt and un-Islamic. As the history of that war is being written, the regime sought to stave off war, willing to give the previous President anything he wanted, save for the regime’s destruction. Of course, the regime as it existed stood in the way of the grand plan to remake the Middle East; its destruction, not its containment, was the goal. Anything short of political—and literal—suicide would not suit the ultimate purpose. So the country and the world were lied into a war, which cost nearly 5,000 American lives, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths; a war which was supposed to last a few weeks and pay for itself instead dragged on for nearly a decade, costing over $1 trillion. And the Middle East, far from being remade into a collection of benevolent American satrapies, teetered on the edge of all-out war for the eight years of the George W. Bush administration.
That President, however, was never asked to apologize for the disaster he had wrought. And if ever he had been asked to apologize in a face-to-face interview, he never offered one: no apology for the countless dead, for the treasure wasted, for the lives destroyed. It’s just not the done thing.
Well, it used to not be the done thing.
Continue reading ‘Repeat After Me: There Is No Liberal Media’
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and her husband, Dr. Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, greet guests during the state dinner at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, in New Delhi, India, Nov. 8, 2010 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today (all times Eastern):
9:05: The President departs the White House
11:45: Arrives New Orleans
12:15: Tours the Port of New Orleans
1:0: First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a workshop for high school students interested in filmmaking careers
1:10: President Obama delivers remarks
2:10: Departs New Orleans
3:45: Arrives Miami
4:25: Attends a DNC event (Private Residence, Coral Gables)
6:20: Delivers remarks at a DSCC event (Private Residence, Miami)
7:45: Delivers remarks at a DSCC event (Private Residence, Miami)
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Full interview with Pres. Obama not the edited crap on @NBCNightlyNews; and no, he doesn’t apologize for #ObamaCare. http://t.co/L43ZCIgf3k
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) November 8, 2013
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In case you missed it, a brief summary of @ChuckTodd‘s interview with the President: pic.twitter.com/cLRuwH1mff
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) November 8, 2013
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Media Matters: How CBS Could Have Avoided The 60 Minutes Benghazi Fiasco
CBS News’ extended refusal to specifically address questions at the heart of its controversial 60 Minutes Benghazi terror report ran counter to the counsel CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager has given in recent years about the importance of journalists admitting their mistakes and being transparent in the process.
In public speeches, Fager, who also holds the title of 60 Minutes’ Executive Producer, has repeatedly insisted that for the good of a free press, journalists must acknowledge errors when they are made and must be honest with news consumers when doubts arise about their work. For the simmering Benghazi controversy however, CBS News embraced a mostly non-responsive strategy, exactly the opposite of what Fager has preached.
The problems with 60 Minutes’ politically charged Benghazi report were self-evident in terms of the witness the program featured. Yet CBS News executives refused for a full week to address the central issue regarding the fact that that witness had told two contradictory tales about the Benghazi terror attack and what he did that night. Instead officials, including Fager, continued to publicly laud its Benghazi work (the news chairman remained “proud” of it, as of November 6), despite the fact that, as one veteran journalist put it, the report represented a “serious problem” for the network.
More here
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Steve Benen: CBS backs off unraveling Benghazi tale
It’s been nearly two weeks since CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired a report that caused considerable excitement from Benghazi conspiracy theorists. Though much of the report, a full year in the making, covered familiar ground, the segment also highlighted an alleged witness to the attack, who said he scaled a 12-foot wall, beat an al Qaeda fighter with the butt of his rifle, and personally saw Ambassador Chris Stevens’ body.
The man’s name is Dylan Davies – he used a pseudonym on “60 Minutes” for no apparent reason – and he has a book coming out about his Benghazi experience, published by a CBS-owned company that releases far-right books from conservative personalities.
Almost immediately, Davies’ story started to unravel … The CBS reporters involved with the story continued to defend it anyway, brushing off broad criticism as politically motivated, and insisting that their segment was accurate. On last week’s edition of “60 Minutes,” the show featured feedback from viewers who cheered the segment, but made no mention of the burgeoning controversy.
Full post here
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if anyone at CBS bothered to read @mmfa‘s “Benghazi Hoax” book, ALL OF THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. but hey, we’re just bunch of liberals
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) November 8, 2013
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CBS-owned book unit behind “60 Minutes” Benghazi report also publishes Rove, Beck, Jerome Corsi & Mark Levin http://t.co/my9FgBz9up
— Frank Rich (@frankrichny) November 8, 2013
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Recap: anti-Obama GOP operative Matalin OKs bogus #Benghazi book for CBS-owned co & @60Minutes perpetuates its lies til @mmfa exposes them.
— sfpelosi (@sfpelosi) November 8, 2013
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No, Lara Logan, you didn’t make a “mistake.” It was political bias desperately seeking anything to support that bias. #hack
— David Pleasant (@dpleasant) November 8, 2013
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Thank U @mmfa 4 staying on the fake Benghazi story. Just 2 days ago @60Minutes was saying they were “proud” of their story. #GreatReporting
— Donna NoShock (@NoShock) November 8, 2013
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#BREAKING: #CBS “60 Minutes” #Benghazi Story To Join #RandPaul‘s Speech Transcripts & Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns #p2 pic.twitter.com/cPlhVM3gY2
— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) November 8, 2013
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Steve Benen: Job growth picks up steam unexpectedly
If there was one thing everyone seemed to expect this morning, it was a discouraging jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After all, these new figures cover the month of October, which means they’ll include the period in which congressional Republicans shut down the federal government.
Imagine our surprise, then, when the new jobs data turned out to be pretty good.
According to the new BLS report, the U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, double economists’ expectations. The private sector added 212,000 jobs – the second best total of the year thus far.
More here
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Follow our live blog for updates from the P5+1, Iran nuclear talks in Geneva http://t.co/iIj1YCPffa
— AJAM Live (@ajamlive) November 8, 2013
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“But you said if I like my umbrella I can keep it!” #Obamacare pic.twitter.com/qcQmpvM7jN
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) November 8, 2013
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ThinkProgress: The Cancer Patient From The Wall Street Journal Will Likely Save Thousands Under Obamacare
Edie Sundby, a Stage-4 gallbladder cancer patient who is losing her individual health care policy in California, could pay less for comprehensive insurance in Obamacare’s health care exchanges.
Sundby’s story first gained national attention after she penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, arguing that Obamacare would cost her more and force her to abandon her cancer doctors….
… During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, she described her old catastrophic policy as “fabulous” and “fantastic,” in part because it paid for treatment by both Stanford and UC San Diego doctors. But the policy also came at a high cost. The AARP reported last year in a profile of Sundby’s fight against cancer that the family spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on treatment beyond the cost of coverage…..
And so when ThinkProgress estimated the cost of a high-deductible policy offered by PacifiCare and then compared that plan to a policy in the California exchange, we found that the family would pay slightly less and benefit from a whole host of new consumer protections.
More here
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TPM: The 5 Million People The GOP Cut Out Of Obamacare
Starting Jan. 1, nearly five million people who were supposed to be covered under Obamacare won’t be because their states have refused to expand Medicaid.
The Medicaid expansion field is tentatively set for 2014, and the nation is split down the middle: 25 states (plus D.C.) are expanding, and 25 states are not, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
…. half the states, all of them with either a Republican governor or a GOP-controlled chamber in the legislature (or both) that opposed the change, have declined to participate.
More here
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NYT: $10 Minimum Wage Proposal Has Growing Support From White House
The White House has thrown its weight behind a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $10 an hour.
“The president has long supported raising the minimum wage so hard-working Americans can have a decent wage for a day’s work to support their families and make ends meet,” a White House official said.
President Obama, the official continued, supports the Harkin-Miller bill, also known as the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, from its current $7.25.
The legislation is sponsored in the Senate by Tom Harkin of Iowa and in the House by George Miller of California, both Democrats. It would raise the minimum wage — in three steps of 95 cents each, taking place over two years — to $10.10, and then index it to inflation.
More here
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MoooOOOooorning! That was a bit of a rush job, so I’m sure I’m missing lots of stuff – will catch up through the day.
Happy Friday!
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Relentless MSM campaign against him, but he keeps on smiling through. Will never understand how, but love him for it. pic.twitter.com/OoVE8pQMms
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) November 8, 2013
President Barack Obama talks with Nelson Manela’s daughters Zindzi and Zenani Mandela prior to a screening of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” in the White House Family Theater, Nov. 7, 2013 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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MoooOOOooorning – Happy Friday!
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