President Obama greets audience members after delivering remarks on the economy at the University of Miami Field House in Coral Gables, Fla., Feb. 23, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Week Ahead:
Sunday: In the evening, the President and First Lady will host the Governors in town for the winter meeting for a dinner at the White House.
Monday: The President will meet with the National Governors Association.
Tuesday: The President will hold an event on the economy at the White House. In the evening, he will attend an OFA event in Washington DC.
Wednesday: The President will travel to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area for an event on the economy.
Thursday: The President will host an event on his ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative.
Friday: The President will attend a DNC event in Washington.
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U.N. Demands That Syria Provide Access For Humanitarian Aid n.pr/1fImQRA
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NPR News (@nprnews) February 22, 2014****
Kathleen O’Brien: Obamacare In NJ: Four Out Of Five Enrollees Have Paid Their Premiums
At least three-quarters of the New Jerseyans who have selected health insurance through the federal marketplace website have followed through by paying their first month’s premium, according to the three companies selling the policies. The state’s rate of paying customers is in line with figures reported across the nation. The figures are seen by some as an important barometer of success in the opening months of coverage.
In New Jersey, an early reading shows the percentage of those who have paid ranges from 75 percent to 90 percent.m”To date, more than 80 percent of enrollees from the federal marketplace have paid their first month’s premiums, said Thomas Vincz, spokesman for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. “We expect that number to increase in coming weeks.”
More here
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In the last Q of '08, econ shrunk at rate of 8.9%. By 3d Q of '09, it was growing again. Yes, Recovery Act worked! nyti.ms/1fH1jIZ
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David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) February 23, 2014****
NYT: What The Stimulus Accomplished
Of all the myths and falsehoods that Republicans have spread about President Obama, the most pernicious and long-lasting is that the $832 billion stimulus package did not work. Since 2009, Republican lawmakers have inextricably linked the words “failed” and “stimulus,” and last week, five years after passage of the Recovery Act, they dusted off their old playbook again. it prevented a second recession that could have turned into a depression.
It created or saved an average of 1.6 million jobs a year for four years. (There are the jobs, Mr. Boehner.) It raised the nation’s economic output by 2 to 3 percent from 2009 to 2011. It prevented a significant increase in poverty — without it, 5.3 million additional people would have become poor in 2010. Government spending worked, helping millions of people who never realized it. And it can work again, whenever lawmakers agree that putting people to work is more important than winning ideological fights.
More here
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Leonard Pitts Jr.: White Fear Trumps Black Life
“You can get killed just for living in your American skin.” — Bruce Springsteen. On Aug. 7, 1930, two young black men were lynched in Marion, Ind. A photographer named Lawrence Beitler had a studio across the street from the lynching tree. He came out and snapped what became an iconic photo, which he made into a postcard and sold. It shows Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith hanging dead and their executioners, faces clearly visible, milling about as if at a picnic. Though authorities possessed this damning photographic evidence, they never arrested anyone for the crime. It was officially attributed to “persons unknown.”
This was not a unique thing. To the contrary, it happened thousands of times. And African-Americans carry this knowledge deep, carry it in blood and sinew, the understanding that the justice system has betrayed us often, smashed our hopes often, denied the value of our lives, often. This knowledge lent a certain tension and poignancy to the wait for a verdict in the Jordan Davis trial last week. Mr. Davis was the black kid shot dead by a white man, Michael Dunn. A guilty verdict would seem to have been a foregone conclusion. It wasn’t. Indeed, the verdict was mystifying.
Crime pays for the 1%! http://t.co/BrZIHrDKx9
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Dream Menders (@DreamMenders) February 23, 2014Mr. Dunn was found guilty on three counts of attempted murder — meaning the three other young men in the SUV with Mr. Davis — but the jury deadlocked on the murder charge. It makes no sense: If Mr. Dunn is guilty of the three charges, how can he not be guilty of the fourth? The jury’s inability to hold him accountable for Mr. Davis’ death only validates African-Americans’ grimmest misgivings about the “just us” system. Brittney Cooper, an assistant professor at Rutgers University, put it as follows on Twitter: “This is not just about jail time. This is about whether white fear legally means more than black life.”
More here
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Abortion clinic escort reveals protestors' make degrading and racist attacks on patients bit.ly/1cCyrE8
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Global Grind (@GlobalGrind) February 23, 2014****
Catherine Thompson: Federal Court Rules Against Notre Dame’s Birth Control Appeal
A federal court ruled against the University of Notre Dame on Friday in a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate, the Associated Press reported. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a federal judge’s previous ruling that denied Notre Dame’s request for an injunction to prevent it from complying with the birth control mandate. The court noted in its decision that Notre Dame already notified the administrator of its employee plan as well as the insurer for students that the university would not pay for contraception coverage.
More here
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CBO finds ARRA increased 2013 jobs by up to 500K. Awaiting press release from @SpeakerBoehner trumpeting the program. cbo.gov/publication/45…
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Christopher Flavelle (@cflav) February 21, 2014****
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Wins Bid For $320 Million Manufacturing Hub
Chicago will be the site of a digital manufacturing institute backed by $70 million in government money and another $250 million of private funding, giving the city, once a factory town, a better chance to re-establish its credentials as a modern maker of things. The decision, to be announced officially Tuesday by President Barack Obama, was hotly anticipated by city and state officials who recognized the opportunity to jump start high-tech manufacturing as a core component of Chicago’s economic vision. The city today, while still home to some manufacturing, is better known for its financial markets and convention business. The idea behind the institute is that manufacturing is being transformed by digital design, which replaces the draftsman’s table with the capacity to work and create in a virtual environment.
BREAKING: President Obama to announce that Chicago will be home to a new research and development institute sun-tim.es/MjKoEu
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Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) February 22, 2014The city envisions the institute would focus on such projects as the faster and cheaper production of a next-generation aircraft engine; drastically reducing the amount of scrap material associated with small manufacturing runs; and speeding the design process among spread-out suppliers. “This is clearly, without a doubt, one of the most significant things to secure Chicago’s long-term economic future,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a Saturday interview. “It is the best insurance policy you can buy, which is major research capacity.” The $70 million grant will come from the Defense Department. Obama will officially announce the Chicago hub on Tuesday at the White House. The manufacturing initiative follows Obama’s new playbook for dealing with an oppositional Congress unlikely to enact any part of his economic vision. The announcement also delivers on the President’s pledge in his 2013 State of the Union address to set up three new manufacturing institutes from existing government programs.
Big deal for the city: Chicago wins bid for $320 million manufacturing hub chicagotribune.com/business/break…
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Michael Lev (@MichaelLev) February 22, 2014In the spring of last year, the administration launched the competition. In addition to Chicago’s “Digital Manufacturing and Design Institute,” Obama will announce that Detroit has won an institute of its own focused on lightweight and modern metals manufacturing. The administration set up a pilot site in Youngstown, Ohio, in 2012, and a few weeks ago announced a new institute in Raleigh, N.C. Obama has also pledged to launch four more competitions for new institutes in the coming year in hopes of setting eight institutes in motion without any action by Congress. But Obama’s broader plan is to spur Congress to support the concept. His blueprint calls for a full national network of up to 45 institutes funded in part with new resources approved by lawmakers.
More here
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Adam Searing: How NC (Surprisingly) Became A Leader In ACA Enrollment
While North Carolina has refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and many politicians continue to complain about the federal health exchange, the roll-out of Obamacare in N.C. tells a far more positive story. North Carolina is enrolling uninsured people at a rate at least twice that of any other state that has refused to set up its own health exchange and refused to expand Medicaid. In short, among states that are dragging their feet on the Affordable Care Act – no advertising campaigns, no speeches by the governor on how important it is for everyone to have access to health care, no Medicaid expansion that guarantees the lowest income workers coverage – North Carolina is by far leading the pack in private plan enrollment. Even with the federal health exchange’s shaky start, N.C. has already enrolled 107,778 uninsured people in private health plans. So what’s going on?
There are several answers. Our success starts with North Carolina’s excellent Medicaid managed-care program, Community Care of North Carolina. Even though Gov. Pat McCrory and legislative leaders declined the federal opportunity to expand Medicaid, N.C. Community Care has provided a natural framework to enroll uninsured people in private health plans. Under Community Care, local doctors, hospitals, health centers, health departments, social service offices, legal service providers and other community leaders have been quietly working together every day, every month and every year for a decade to help people access and use health care. Because of this, North Carolina’s Medicaid program is already a huge success both in delivering great care and containing costs. So, when the Affordable Care Act’s health exchange opened for business, there were already networks with proven records of success in helping people get health care. These organizations jumped right in to the enrollment effort because they work with uninsured families every day and know what a huge benefit this is.
More here
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Oleg Ushnevych: 1982 - 20/02/2014. He died at #Euromaidan. He was young and brave. #Ukraine #Kyiv > http://t.co/9xWXxzck6K RT @EuromaidanPR
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Chris Collins (@CollChris) February 23, 2014****
The Globe And Mail: How Putin’s Sochi Dream Was Shattered By Ukraine’s Nightmare
Vladimir Putin has a dream – and for the past two weeks, the world has been helping him to live it. In this dream, Russia is rich again, a place where the reported $51-billion cost of the Winter Olympics in Sochi is no object. It’s a nation of impressive architecture and smiling volunteers who speak English but think like Russians. “Russia – Great, New, Open!” brag the billboards around the Olympic city. (“Open”? Sochi has high fences, surveillance balloons and warships off the coast; every phone call and e-mail is monitored.) Mr. Putin sees a Russia that is once more a global centre of gravity, indispensable on the world stage. Soon, if his plans come to fruition, Moscow will stand as the leader of a new bloc of nations – the Eurasian Union – with borders that look a lot like those of the Soviet empire, whose fall he has openly mourned.
Yanukovych running away from his residence. video from residence security cameras #ukraine #euromaidan: youtube.com/watch?v=2ifWCB…
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Tania K (@TKachmaryk) February 23, 2014Vladimir Putin also has a nightmare. And this week, it looked a lot like the burning heart of Kiev, the Ukrainian capital where tens of thousands of protesters battled police to bring down their Kremlin-backed, authoritarian government. Dozens died before a tentative truce Friday interrupted the hostilities, but anger remains so high that there is no guarantee it will hold. It’s not just that Mr. Putin fears the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych and the rise of a pro-Western government in Kiev, although that would be a heavy geopolitical blow. He needs Ukraine to take part if his Eurasian Union – currently set to launch next year with only Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Belarus as members – is to look like anything more than a tiny dictators’ club.
More here
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AP: Venezuelan Government Cuts Internet Access, Blocks Websites In War Against Student Protesters
The battle for Venezuela is being fought as vigorously online as in the streets, with authorities cutting off the Internet to a clash-torn university city and blocking selected websites and a “walkie-talkie” service widely used by protesters. A local TV reporter in San Cristobal, capital of the western border state of Tachira, said Thursday night that she could hear gunshots as teargas-firing police broke up protests just as they had the night before when Internet service was cut. “We’re still without Internet. And some people don’t have water or electricity either,” said the reporter, Beatriz Font. San Cristobal, home to one private and three public universities, is where the current wave of anti-government demonstrations began on Feb. 2, the fiercest unrest since President Hugo Chavez died last March began.
More amazing photos of the gigantic demonstration in Caracas today lgf.bz/Nn3c6C http://t.co/1V9dlrD6R1
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Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 23, 2014Later Thursday, the U.S. company Zello told The Associated Press that Venezuela’s state-run telecoms company, CANTV, had just blocked access to the push-to-talk “walkie-talkie” app for smart phones and computers that has been a hugely popular organizing tool for protesters from Egypt to Ukraine. Zello supports up to 600 users on a single channel, and company CEO Bill Moore said it became the No. 1 app in Ukraine on Thursday for both the iOS and Android operating systems. In one day this week, Zello reported more than 150,000 downloads in Venezuela. Some believe Venezuela’s information war, which escalated last week as the government blocked images on Twitter after violence in Caracas claimed three lives, is only just beginning. The protesters are fed up with a catalogue of woes that include rampant inflation, food shortages and one of the world’s highest murder rates.
More here
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Please support #MaidanHotspot in remembering those who died for #Ukraine #euromaidan facebook.com/events/5789465… http://t.co/P8pg2gVnYI
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Bobfr (@Our4thEstate) February 23, 2014****
Douglas Alexander: This Crisis Is About What’s Best For Ukraine, Not Russia
If a week is a long time in British politics, 24 hours has proven to be a long time in this Ukrainian political crisis. The priority must be to prevent further killing, and all sides must play their part in achieving this. The Ukrainian government has in recent months routinely ignored the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people. So it will take time for trust to be rebuilt across Ukrainian society and it will be hard for that progress to be made even after this crisis ends. That is why it is so important that the EU should continue to support Ukraine as the turmoil in Kiev continues. We must remember that this crisis began in November, when President Yanukovych walked away from an agreement with Europe that would have granted Ukraine access to the EU’s single market.
Yanukovich-allied oligarch, billionaire Rinat Akhmetov issued a statement stressing the need to keep Ukraine “united” nytimes.com/2014/02/23/wor…
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Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 23, 2014The UK government has had a noticeably low profile as the crisis unfolded. But we must recognise that the number of people killed in Ukraine last week is a tragic expression of the gravity of the crisis. The streets of Kiev have revealed a geopolitical fault line between Russia and the West. President Obama was right to say that Ukraine can no longer be seen as part of a “Cold War chess board”. More than 20 years after the Berlin Wall fell we should not see a new era of 20th-century satellite states take hold on the 21st-century European continent. President Putin is known for his zero-sum approach to foreign affairs – but what happens in Ukraine cannot just be about judging what makes sense for Russia. It must be about what works for the people of Ukraine.
More here
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"House fit for a tyrant" dailym.ai/1nWQ3g2 via @MailOnline #Ukraine #EuroMaidan #Sochi2014
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(@leolui) February 23, 2014****
Great piece on the mood of #euromaidan tonight. www2.macleans.ca/2014/02/22/a-h…
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Tania Mysak (@martantomkat) February 23, 2014****
Gunner Goz: Out Of Hell, A New Hope For A Proud People
Like many of you, our friends, my wife and I have been literally rooted to our chairs as we watched events in our beloved Ukraine roll out, ever since those terrible days in Kyiv last November when Ukrainians began to die because of the brutality of Yanukovych’s Berkut. Since then, many, many more innocents have sacrificed themselves to protest injustice, tryanny and corruption. Ukrainians have been incredibly brave throughout all this. They have withstood freezing cold, Militia attacks, titushki beatings, kidnappings, torture, murder, Berkut Molotov cocktails and finally, an ultimate horror, the cold-blooded, merciless snipers of their own government’s security forces
Faces of winners: People posing in front of Yanukovych's Mezhyhirya mansion bit.ly/1nX9FR8 #euromaidan #euromaydan #межигорье #kiev
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trending topics (@trending_eu) February 23, 2014One little known fact most Americans are not aware of is that Ukraine’s 40 million citizens legally possess more than 2 million private firearms: 400,000 of them are in Kyiv alone. And yet, even in the face of murderous provocation and killings by the police and Berkut, very few of those privately owned firearms were ever raised in anger, even against their tormentors: the ratio of citizens killed to police casualties was over 10 to 1. It tells us that Ukrainians are a people possessing extraordinary restraint and respect for life, because if every private gun in Ukraine had been fired in anger, the dead would be in the many thousands by now.
More here
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Georgia Issues New Confederate Flag License Plate thkpr.gs/1fmEtKb via @thinkprogress
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Pretty Foot (@PrettyFootWoman) February 22, 2014****
ONE MORE TIME:
1 Stimulus WORKED
2 GOP austerity policies were DISASTER in Europe
3 GOP has been LYING ever since
nytimes.com/2014/02/21/opi…
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The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) February 21, 2014****
On This Day:
President Obama meets with actor George Clooney in the Oval Office, Feb. 23, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama listens to staff during a meeting in the Oval Office, Feb. 23, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden discuss the Military Families Campaign with spouses of U.S. military leadership in the Map Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2011 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)
President Obama poses for a photograph with Ambassador Jacinth Lorna Henry-Martin of St. Kitts and Nevis during an ambassador credentialing ceremony in the Oval Office, Feb. 23, 2011. Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall and members of Henry-Martin’s family watch from the edge of the room (Photo by Pete Souza)
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First Lady Michelle Obama views the Slave Pen exhibit while touring the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 23, 2012. Pictured, from left, are: Dina Bailey, Associate Curator of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory; Verna Williams; and Allison Singleton (Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)
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The Obama Diary 
REMINDER: Vote for Meta’s Pastry Studio. Tell your family, friends, friends of friends, frenemies, sex buddies, exercise buddies, blah…blah…blah. Just Vote! 😀
http://www.thekitchn.com/nominate-for-your-favorite-sweets-baking-cooking-blog-for-the-homies-awards-the-homies-2014-200246
♥ &hearts: ♥
oooops!
Meta, I voted. If I am reading it correct, you are leading your closest rival by 7 votes. Everyone go vote and keep Meta in the lead.
No problem, I think everyone has made a mistake on this. 😉 I am actually typing on a keyboard on my semi-new Mac Book. I was so used to my iPad and the way it corrects my mistakes. I have so much to learn, but at least I have mine. 😉 AMK 😉 I hope there is a magical cure for the vision in my right eye or I’m doomed to listening to the man on my computer reading to me. I need to give him an accent. 😉
♥ ♥ ♥
I tried to vote but it won’t take it, is that because I already voted the first time? I thought it was a different round of voting.
I voted the first time, and the second round, so not sure what the problem is?
You do need to sign in each time. I’ve tried using my Hubby’s account but I can’t seem to beat the system.
Great R&S Nerdy Wonks!!!
Great Rise & Shine NW. Thank you. No, I’m not just getting up. I’m just slow at getting to the computer. 😉
GM! TOD is all you need to know what’s REALLY going on in the world…Thanks, NW:)
Thank you, DF.
No…thank YOU! I can actually feel my brain cells soaking up all the info. Seriously.
Yay! That’s great to know.
If you have not, by all means read The New, New Deal by Michael Grunwald. It does an excellent job of explaining how the stimulus met a lot of PBO’s objectives, the under the radar facts.
A book I have on the bookshelf waiting for me. . . Glad to hear it’s good.
LOOKING FORWARD TO “THE REID REPORT” STARTING 2/24 at 2:00 p.m. (MSNBC)
Joy Reid is subbing for Melissa Harris Perry this morning and they are having a spirited discussion about the need for the $10.10 minimum wage increase. Republican Avik Roy made it seem like the wage increase would mainly be impacting teenagers. Ha! Joy challenged him and corrected him on the spot. I will post the segment as soon as it is available. Joy is a breath of fresh air. She does her homework and she has the facts at her fingertips.
Thanks Ladyhawke…look forward to seeing the segment when you post it. 🙂
Just after I posted the R&S arrived, so I brought my post over. Now I will go back and read NW’s wonderful R&S. Good morning everyone.
Good morning TODville. I love looking at those strong beautiful hands. We are in good hands!!!
We are in the middle of a big 2 day storm. It is 19 and the wind is blowing so the wind chill is 5. We are expecting 12″ – 24″. I can’t believe I was complaining about no snow. I am planning to do baking today. Hope everyone else has a beautiful day.
Baking is the best thing to do when you’re snowed in 🙂 Stay warm!
Meta has a yummy cookie recipe posted on her blog I thought I might try. I wonder if we will get snow too. Stay warm.
Good morning great people, just stopping by to say hi while I do my homework.
Hello!
Nerdy, this is EPIC, it’s like a complete newspaper! Thank you so so so so so so so so so so much Mrs Jose!
Thank you, Chips.
Did we miss wedding?
G’morning NW, Chips, TOD, lurkers, everyone and congrats NW on #1 :). Thanks NW once again for this excellent Sunday R & S roundup! I hope we will get some pics of the Governors’ dinner this evening.
Thanks, HF.
Congratulations, Canada! Proud of you!
I’m not on twitter, and don’t watch TV in the morning….so, what happened? Did Canada win the gold in hockey?
Yes, they beat Sweden. Vc was literally doing cartwheels on the “Early Bird” thread this morning, and so was @JeffersonObama on Twitter. #YesOuiCanada.
#YesOuiCanada
😆
oh that is very clever- #YesOuiCanada ! 🙂
I stole it from the Canadians – they used that slogan when PBO (as President) first visited them back in 2009. 🙂
Change Oui Can Believe In!
Oh I must go back and watch those. Were they medal worthy cartwheels?
Yeehaw!
I’m rooting for you, too, CanadaBarb!
So now I find myself with a new vice – the Bates Motel series. I binge-watched the entire season 1 yesterday and now I’m hooked and ready for Season 2 premiering March 3rd. LOL! As if my schedule weren’t busy enough…
Oh boy, another series I’ll never catch up on! Thanks for the tip.
Ha, hf- I binged watched “Crossing Lines” you might want to check that out too.. about a group of multi-national cops working for the Hague (sp) going after criminals who cross country lines in Europe committing crimes.. on Netflix from French tv but all in English.
LOL! I’ll have to check it out. More vices…
I don’t have Netflix but there’s nothing preventing me from signing up. 🙂
eggzackly – I pay 7.99 a month for streaming.. no commercials !
UNM SPANKS 6th ranked San Diego State!! (San Diego is NOT A STATE, I checked.) It wasn’t as close as the final score looks. The Lobos dominated. It was freakin’ beyond loud in The Pit!
[Crickets]
C’mon y’all aren’t excited??? EVERYBODY A LOBO WOOF! WOOF!! WOOF!!!!!!
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400505617
Woof! Woof! ♥
“San Diego is NOT A STATE, I checked.”
Magapie, San Diego State University is one of the California State Universities. Some California State Universities (e.g. San Francisco State University, Sacramento State University, etc) are named after the cities. I am so sad my team was beaten so badly.
I could have told you this. http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/02/23/the-war-on-fetuses-and-babies/
Infant mortality is higher under Republican Presidents than under Democratic Presidents:
Couple this with studies showing that fewer abortions have occurred when Democrats have the White House and any reasonable observer is compelled to ask, “Who are you calling ‘babykiller’, motherfucker?”
I think they should be held accountable for these lies they tell daily. They care nothing about life, they only care about themselves and money.
Hello TOD Globe.
Dr Susan Rice was to have been on MTP today. Mediaite has a piece. I don’t do Sunday shows anymore. But I found this from CBS in Dec 2013.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-security-advisor-susan-rice/
It appears that the Whitehouse.gov will carry the Governors’ Dinner live tonight from 7:10PM ET.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live
Ah, great spot Hopefruit, I would have COMPLETELY missed that! Will post it near the time, thank you!
Sure Chips – my pleasure! Thank YOU. 🙂
AWESOME! Thank you, hf
Happy Sunday TODers.
Boy, I tell you president Obama’s schedule is something else. He is always on the go. I love my president, that’s all.
Great R&S, NW!!!!
Check the photo in this tweet …. Putin’s nightmare extends beyond Ukraine ….
Ambassador Rice on MTP ….
“When ex-President Viktor Yanukovych left his luxurious Mezhyhirya in a hurry on Feb. 22, he left a lot behind – including enough financial documents to keep criminal investigators and investigative journalists busy for months to come.
Now the 140-hectare complex north of Kyiv is public property once again, thanks to a unanimous vote in parliament on Feb. 23.
Journalists who arrived at the estate over the weekend found thousands of documents floating in the Kyiv Sea or at its bottom near shore. Some of them were burned around the edges in a failed attempt to destroy them. Others were still packed tightly in files and folders. A diver recovered some 160 folders of invoices, contracts, insurance policies, cash payment orders and the like.”
Oh FFS, NAACP:
WTF..?!?!? The NAACP is as useless as a fireplace in a hot desert!
Can’t believe this, Hopefruit. Some on Twitter are defending the invitation, they reckon the NAACP will use it to expose him, but he’s already exposed as the racist bigot he is, he does NOT need to be given this platform.
Exactly – doesn’t the NAACP have better things to do than to waste time with this Libertarian bigot? Whether or not they want to “expose” him is irrelevant. As you said, he’s already exposed – he and his loony tune father.
Methinks there is $$$$ flowing in all of this and NAACP’s financial bottom line is what matters to them at the end of the day.
It’s really disgusting Hopefruit, and even if he was given a hard time when he spoke to the NAACP, it would only raise his stock with his devotees – which, as we know, include many so-called ‘progressives’. Insanity.
Exactly. They’re giving him undeserved exposure when another far more deserving individual could be given the platform. Was this Van Jones’ idea? SMH…
I’m sorry that you feel that way about the NAACP. As a member and an officer of my local branch, I would strongly beg to differ. With all due respect, the organization has always been in the forefront of the struggle for civil rights in this country and still is. If there is another organization that has done more, please enlighten me. Am I happy about this latest turn of events? No I’m not and national will be getting an earful from me and thousands of other members I’m sure. I would ask that you not dismiss 100 years of hard work because you disagree with this choice. The NAACP is non-partisan and surprising choices happen from time to time. Remember Mitt Romney spoke at the 2011 National Convention and look at all the good it did him.
I’m just learning of this invite, and don’t otherwise know anything about the rationale, but I seem to recall watching another awful speaker at a previous-year NAACP Convention – the speech was on C-Span – and I totally enjoyed it for a couple of reasons, although I can’t recall who the speaker was. The reason I enjoyed it was because a cold hush went over the auditorium during the entire speech. Don’t think there was any applause throughout, unless it was something about praising the NAACP or a similar comment, when attendees politely clapped. To me, it appeared the organization had set a nice trap for the fool, who thought he was “good enough” at faking it to get some resounding welcome. To me, it also appeared that giving such a platform to a fool exposed the fool even more, and I remember making up my mind that it was the latter point that was the reason for the invite. That’s just my personal takeaway from the prior event.
Oh, and, good for you, Dakota, for supporting the NAACP and your local branch so well.
Thank you J’OB. I have my “moments” with the organization as most do. When I get frustrated, I try singing (or at least humming) “Ella’s Song.”
Good work always brings frustrations, that’s for sure. The good thing is that you are able to offer your thoughts and suggestions and participate, each time you show up!
Why?
From the link: In an interview taped for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” that will air Sunday, Lorraine Miller said she was interested in hearing more about the “Economic Freedom Zones” that the Kentucky senator has pushed.
“We’d love to talk with him about it and work with him on it,” Miller said….
I feel ill.
There are some instances when a person is so vile that anything good cannot overcome the evil they’ve projected into the world. Having this cretin speak to an audience that stands for equality is an insult – given that everything he stands for is the opposite. I just don’t understand this.
Happy Sunday TOD.
#BlackHistoryMonth
Did You Know That?
Henry O. Flipper who was the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and commissioned 2nd lieutenant in the Army in an apparent racial incident, was accused by his white commanding officer of embezzling funds.
Although he was acquitted of the charges, he was dishonorably discharged in 1882. Flipper tried unsuccessfully to vindicate himself for many years thereafter. He died on May 3, 1940, in Atlanta, Georgia. Thirty-six years after his death, in 1976, it was revealed that officers had framed him.
President Bill Clinton posthumously granted Flipper an honorable discharge in 1999 and on the 100th anniversary of his graduation West Point unveiled a bust to honor the former graduate.
Thanks donna. //sigh…SMH….
Thank you for posting on the Black History Month. I have posted the ones I see on FB. My friend who grew up in Russia asked me why on one of the posts. I tried to go back and see what it was about but can’t find it back. Anyway I told her I never understood why we had slavery to begin with. I still don’t understand the why.
‘was accused by his white commanding officer of embezzling funds.’ As soon as I read that, I thought ‘didn’t want to work with him so they set him up’. Very obvious even before seeing the end. No intelligent person was going to work hard to graduate from the military academy and then jeopardize that, especially not a first timer. smh, indeed.
De-lurking to say I am beaming with pride with Dr. Susan Rice for the classy and intelligent way she handled that ass-kissing republican D. Gregory. He tried to shove Putin and Benghazi down our throat and she left him looking like a little boy trying to score points using his father’s homework from the fifties!
People like D. Gregory just parrot nonsense in an attempt to demean those who don’t serve the right wing puppet-masters. They don’t have a clue about actual facts or history. He’s a fool.
Bwwwahahaaaa!! Thank you for de-lurking to post this great comment!
De-lurking to say I am beaming with pride with Dr. Susan Rice for the classy and intelligent way she handled that ass-kissing republican D. Gregory. He tried to shove Putin and Benghazi down our throat and she left him looking like a little boy trying to score points using his father’s homework from the fifties!
Thank you Paulita!!!!
Thank you!! Ms. Chips, I am doing a virtual blush.
I enjoyed that. His talking points were getting on my nerves.
Good West Coast morning NW, Chipsticks & TOD family and lurkers!
I just checked on the voting and meta had 51 with Joy next with 46. Let’s keep the votes coming folks!!!
NW, this R&S is a total and complete read – thanks!
Sorry for the double post. This is only the second time I have ever commented on anybody’s blog. I absolutely love this community. I pray for you all like family and will be eternally grateful to Ms. Chips and fellow blog tyrants. I’ve been telling everyone I know about this site.
Welcome Paulita and thanks for de-lurking. We appreciate your comments any time! 🙂
The Nets need a solid body on the post. Good for them and him.
what an impressive (and attractive…sorry!) person susan rice is:
Inorite? I could almost see her suppress a deep sigh every time he attempted to re-frame his stupidity. Her response to everything left him with nothing.
yes, it’s so strange how it’s like he doesn’t ever listen to a word she says. when she’s talking, he’s just waiting for her to stop so he can throw out the next republican talking point. there’s no actual give-and-take conversation. rice answers each question directly, and he never follows up on what she just said.
compare this to whenever dick cheney is ever on or someone such as john mccain, where he (and all of the big media types) are almost literally bowing before them, and accepting anything they say.
The Obama administration = a return to TRUTH & COMPETENCE!! The real American way. (Big grin w/ all teeth showing.)
‘he’s just waiting for her to stop so he can throw out the next republican talking point. there’s no actual give-and-take conversation’
4more, give and take, and follow up on what was said, could only occur if Gregory knew what he was talking about. By your description, it’s the same MO Gregory uses with Cheney and McCain. He still doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The difference is that with these guys he’s ‘bowing and accepting’ and facilitating their lies with smiles while allowing them to speak, etc, whereas with SR he is confrontational and, to a certain extent, rude.
Again, thank you so much for your tweets, Bobfr. Keep moving forward in this Year of Action. {{{{{{{ TY, Bobfr}}}}}}}}HZ
Susan Rice’s title is National Security Advisor…it should be stated under her name…he is grasping at some way to ruffle her feathers….but he was unable to…wow….listen to him….D Gregory is a fool
Thank you prettyfoot58. Dr. Susan Rice, National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of American well represented the President and the people of America this morning. Dr. Susan Rice, did not allow David Gregory to ruffle her or distract her in anyway. She was direct and to the point. If you noticed also, TOD family, Dr. Susan Rice kept calling David Gregory’s name: ” David, if………” this is a very important observation when you have someone who does not know what he/she is talking about and has not done any decent homework on the topics being discussed, and most of all trying to distract, disrupt, and disrespect the guest who he knows is way above his knowledge of the matter; one does what is profoundly correct; call the arse name out constantly and make sure those who are listening know that she was talking to him and call him on it as one who wanted to take such an important situation and bring it down to the level of repugs talking points. Dr. Susan Rice, National Security Advisor for President Barack Obama does not roll like that, and these low-level talking heads better take notice. She is a tough lady, and she knows how to play in the Big game with all the Old Boys and their water buckets. Get over it, David Gregory. She is there to stay and do the work as a very fine National Security Advisor for President Barack Obama and the nation.
I love her and was very proud of her this morning. Spoke with two personal family members in my family who is very close to Dr. Susan Rice, and they were elated with her appearance this morning and how she stood toe to toe with little David.HZ
Parliament in Ukraine has named its speaker as interim president.
Oleksandr Turchynov takes charge following the dismissal of President Viktor Yanukovych on Saturday. Mr Turchynov told MPs they had until Tuesday to form a new unity government.
Yulia Tymoshenko, who was freed from jail on Saturday, has ruled out becoming prime minister again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26312008
The fact that PBO even has to warn Putin about sending in troops is worrisome. Like that Globe and Mail article stated, Putin’s dream of a neo-Soviet empire have just gone up in smoke. Kiev is the birthplace of the Russian nation, and it’s not going back into Moscow’s orbit without some external force.
Agree, LL. Anything that remotely looks like 1956 (Budapest) or 1968 (Prague) could readily spawn WW III. Very dangerous days ahead, but it’s clear that millions of Ukrainians are not Putin’s puppets.
The good thing is that Yanukovych wasn’t allowed to flee to Moscow. I really do shudder to think that he could have returned at the head of Russian tanks.
I wish the last Secretary of State had praised Ambassador Rice in such a manner… Bravo for Sec Kerry!
I don’t remember hearing the last SoS praise anyone in diplomatic endeavors, unless they were no longer with us … maybe that’s just me. But I’m so glad Secretary Kerry remains himself in his new role – able to share not just the work, but the praise. Who does that remind us of?
Indeed! Birds of a feather…
TY, jacquelineoboomer. You are so on point, as usual. POB and Sec. Kerry are reading from the same book and are on the same page, same chapter, same paragraph and same sentence. Great team. These men will stay with their cores. We are bless to have them. HZ
Apparently Jimmy Fallon’s new show is breaking every kind of record for viewership and I couldn’t be happier about this.
I do not speak TV so I don’t exactly get the ratings thing but what I do understand is that an America changing for the better is welcoming a talented open loving guy into their homes.
it’s not just our wonderful FLOTUS as an early guest although that certainly helps. I think it’s Jimmy’s wide range of interests and comfort with diversity that shows. Nerdy highlighted the Hip Hop music with Justin Timberlake which was sensational.
Jimmy relates to Young America and Old (like me 70+) alike.
Anyone else enjoying the Tonight Show now?
Barely watched it when Jay was on, although I liked him – just prefer David Letterman when I watch late night. But I will definitely watch more of The Tonight Show, now that Jimmy Fallon is on. You are right, Vicki, no matter the age group (like me, somewhere between 66 and 68), he is great and his comedy is A+.
New R&D Institute in Chicago … right next to the future Barack H. Obama Presidential Library, one hopes!
Happy Sunday, TODville!
Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Posted on February 23, 2014 by chornajuravka
On February 22, 2014, a special meeting was held attended by 116 members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The following statement was adopted by the majority vote.
The staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses deep condolences to the families of the victims, including our colleague Olena Vlasenko, who lost her husband Andriy Chernenko.
In view of the resolution by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on relieving of the President of Ukraine of his constitutional powers, we believe that the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara does not have the moral authority to continue to represent Ukraine in the international arena. Therefore, we appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to appoint immediately an executive responsible for carrying out the duties of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the diplomatic service of Ukraine will continue to perform its functions in the interest of the nation and the citizens of Ukraine.
We deny strongly certain public statements that a coup d’etat occurred in Ukraine. We condemn attempts to question the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.
We urge our colleagues in embassies and consulates of Ukraine to provide objective information for our international partners about the events in Ukraine and to continue to assist in the organization of medical treatment abroad for injured Ukrainians. We emphasize that our telephone hotline functions around the clock. To reach us call +380-44-238-1657.
This statement is posted on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and is open for signatures. It now contains more than 85 signatures of Ukrainian diplomats.
Translated by Anna Mostovych
Edited by Mariana Budjeryn. Assisted by Michael Donovan
http://euromaidanpr.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/statement-from-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-of-ukraine/
Important article linked in this tweet ….
… note the dissolution of the Party of Regions and the earnestness of some of its former members to be pushing for the formation by 25 Feb (Tuesday) of a new government and immediate resumption of interactions with the EU & IMF:
““We don’t have time. I hope that we’ll finish forming coalition and new government by (Feb. 25). We can’t allow political problems to add to the social and economic crisis as then the situation will go out of control.
The new government will be free to restart negotiations with the EU and the International Monetary Fund.
“As soon as there is new government, the negotiations on the association and free trade agreement with the EU will resume immediately,” Berezovets said “Theoretically the EU can sign it with the new government even in March during the EU-Ukraine summit. Everything is ready, I don’t see any obstacles.””
AMAZING cover of the Polish edition of Newsweek …
Yanukovych allies attempt dramatic escape from Ukraine
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/95066.aspx
Disgusting ….
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/02/23/susan-rice-brilliant-sharp-charismatic/
Did you guys see that Sarah Palin will be having a new reality show? Something about sports or moose hunting or whatever. I don’t even know.
TJ Holmes of MSNBC mention this about the idiot half term governor getting a new reality show.
NerdyW, again{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Thank you for all you do here for all of us. I so appreciate you and your support. }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
I love your dedication , and I am sure our Chips as you well know appreciates you as well. TY, TY, TY so much. HZ