****
Josh Zumbrun: Job Openings At 14-Year High As Hiring Returns To Pre-Recession Levels
For the first time since January 2001, the U.S. had more than five million job openings at the end of December, a sign of a labor environment shifting in favor of workers. December was also the best month for hiring since before the recession struck more than seven years ago. More than 5.1 million people were hired in December, the most since November 2007, according to the Labor Department‘s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as JOLTS.
The report adds to signs that the labor market is strengthening considerably. The Labor Department’s main jobs report, released on February 6, showed that November, December and January comprised the best three-month stretch of hiring since 1997, raising hope that the U.S economy will start delivering stronger wage growth for a wider swath of Americans after more than five years of sluggish recovery from a deep recession.
More here
****
The Obama Diary 
Good Afternoon, Everyone 🙂
Congrats, rikyrah!
He responded to you, Ms. J’OB!
Woot! Woot!
OMG!!
That’s what I thought!
That is really special, Jacqueline!!! Congratulations!!
Thanks, Bob!
I just saw that a little while ago! Woot! Woot!
Girl, that is what I’d call a BONUS.
I think I can cash in my Obama chips now. Ha! (I’m just a little thrilled.)
Aaaaaah Jacqueline, that is WONDERFUL!!!
Thanks, Chips – it was amazing (just saw it a little while ago!). And what a classy guy to give such a nice response.
Congrats Rikyrah! ⭐
Congrats rikyrah 🙂
Thank you NW for highlighting the important jobs news.
Chips, NW – have not seen nathkatun7 or Layla for quite sometime. Hope all is ok for them …
Thanks, Bob.
Nath typically checks in/comments late. Hey, Nath if you’re out there lurking, *waves* 🙂
Layla might be busy and has no time to check in, but Layla, if you’re out there, *waves* 🙂
Thank you NW!
This will be the #1 movie for the weekend
……….
Review: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is as Ridiculous as You’d Expect
By Eric Kohn | IndiewireFebruary 10, 2015 at 1:52PM
The adaptation of E.L. James’ salacious novel delivers on the source material — but that’s not exactly a compliment.
The feature-length adaptation of “Fifty Shades of Grey” opens with Annie Lennox’s snazzy cover of “I Put a Spell on You,” a choice obviously meant to convey the ensuing S&M plot between recent college graduate Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and young billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). However, it ultimately speaks to a bigger force at work — namely, the absurd extent to which this unapologetically trashy source material has managed to hold sway over popular culture.
Lifted from the first of E.L. James’ wildly successful novels, which started as a form of “Twilight” fan fiction, the movie plays strictly by the book — which is hardly a compliment. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from Kelly Marcel’s screenplay, the considerable talent behind the camera and a modicum of considerable performances yield a few undeniable guilty pleasures, but most viewers will be seeking a safe word to escape this two-hour-plus mess of half-baked excess.
Taylor-Johnson’s previous directorial outing, the John Lennon origin story “Nowhere Boy,” similarly tracked a young character coming to grips with his identity. But while Lennon had real talent and ambition, Anastasia’s only sincere desires involve whether or not she’s willing to sign a contract allowing Grey to turn her into his object of fetishistic abuse. Johnson does her best to give Anastasia’s conundrum a genuine sense of intrigue, and her final bits as she confronts Grey on the nature of his peculiar desires register some modicum of suspense. However, the stilted Dornan doesn’t even meet her halfway. But he can’t be held entirely at fault for the paucity of material he’s given, and the extent to which the movie remains tethered to the book’s limited scope.
http://www.indiewire.com/article/review-50-shades-of-grey-is-as-ridiculous-as-youd-expect-20150210
Saw the author of the trilogy on Ronan’s show (think it was) and she said anyone who says 50 Shades was about abuse hasn’t read the book. (Author appeared to be middle-aged, which seemed to surprise Ronan, and I believe she used a pen name, to keep herself out of the spotlight, still makes few public appearances, and she said she wrote it FOR WOMEN … that it was a participatory tale, etc.) Anyway, she made a fortune on sales, for sure.
Congrats on your Fine Au ⭐
1. Thank you for this review, Rikyrah.
2. Every time I see the 50 Shades of Grey commercials, I can’t believe people bought the books and are excited to see the movie for any other reason than hate watching. I tried reading the first book and could feel my brain melting from the stupidity so I stopped. It started out as Twilight fan fiction and OMG…Twilight is another stupid set of books and movies. Nothing wrong with fan fiction, but there are many out there are so much better.
3. The book is nothing more than abuse, rape, rape culture, and violence masquerading as “romance.” At its core, what’s wrong with 50 (Fifty Shades of Grey) is that E.L. James is a crappy writer. CRAPPY. The dialogue is juvenile, the sentence structure is abhorrent, and it reads like a 5 year old threw words together and decided to call it a novel.
4. There are people who actually read the 50 books so that others wouldn’t suffer the torture and their humorous and serious chapter by chapter summaries which include actual paragraphs from the books, show just how atrocious the books are.
http://pervocracy.blogspot.ca/p/fifty-shades-of-grey-index.html
http://jennytrout.com/?page_id=5720
5. There are better BDSM books out there (such a shame that 50 Shades of Grey is polluting the environment, giving people wrong ideas, and taking up valuable space) and I find it interesting that many who practice BDSM have condemned the book because fundamentally, BDSM is about trust and consent. The female character in the book is 24/7 scared of the guy, he doesn’t respect her safe wording, she’s scared that he’ll hit her, when they’re having sex, her inner dialogue is all about how this is painful, humiliating, she doesn’t want to be spanked, then whomp…ORGASM!
6. As a reader, I find it disturbing to enjoy a book where a main character is clearly uncomfortable with sexual activities taking place and we’re supposed to find that sexy. Where a male character was forced (molested/raped) to have sex (the character doesn’t label it that way..oh wait, I should say, the author doesn’t label it that way because the character is fiction; not a real human being) for five years by an older woman.
7. There are so many sexier and interesting BDSM novels out there that it’s appalling this is the one that receives worldwide phenomenon. I don’t blame the actors for being wooden. If the movie is staying true to the book in terms of dialogue (According to the reviewer, they cut out most of the sex scenes and the sex scenes they left in, was just hinting at things and teasing; pretty much regular R-rated stuff) then wow, that must have been a hilariously awful script.
8. I will say, if one wants to see Jamie Dornan doing spectacular acting, one should check a TV series call ‘The Fall.’ He was getting critical acclaim for his role before this 50 Shades of Grey put him in pop level acting fame.
Thanks for your review. I bought 50 shades during the hoopla, but never got around to reading it and I see that I did miss anything. Your points 3 and 5 are the elements that would have made me throw the book ( why did she need a trilogy for this swill?) against the wall and write a letter to the author.
Should be “did not miss anything.”
Hey Nerdy. Congrats on the gold rikyrah
Hello, Roberta.
“In other words, just as our history shows with slavery and Jim Crow, the best way to defeat the ISIS extremists is for the Muslim world to organize against their terrorism. Conservative attempts to malign all Muslims for the actions of those extremists would actually distract and block that from happening. Just as Malcolm X’s hajj to Mecca opened his eyes to the fact that not all white people are inherently evil, Christian conservatives would do well to acknowledge the basic humanity of Muslims who are willing to fight the extremism of ISIS.”
I don’t think some conservatives are capable of seeing beyond their own prejudices. It wouldn’t matter to them how much their “efforts to malign all Muslims” contributed to further extremism because they would only use that to justify their own biases. If the extremism escalated they would say, “See I told you what they were.” All that matters to them is confirming their own prejudices.
Koch Brothers Group Shouted Down By Irate Citizens During Montana Town Hall Meeting
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/02/10/koch-brothers-group-shouted-irate-citizens-montana-town-hall-meeting.html
They ran off Americans for Prosperity…….
I hope video emerges .
That did happen. They didn’t even let the legislator know they were having the townhall and it was about him. Some irate people and they are all very conservative.
Asking reps to sign a pledge AGAINST providing people with health care – can’t get much lower than that.
LET ME GO…I’LL BRING MY JACKHAMMER AND TELL THEM IT’S A Q-TIP!!!!!…NOW HEAR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RUSTY’S LIVER OUGHT TO BE GOOD AND PICKLED BY THEN!!!!!…WOOOOOOOOT—WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!
@CanProveIt
Gee, just imagine where the health of this country would be if GOP hadn’t been traitors. Never in our history has the government not invested in jobs after economic recessions/depressions. NEVER. Public works projects have had the support of governing parties since the beginning of U.S. history.
BUT………….THAT BLACK GUY…WE AREN’T GOING TO DO ANYTHING FOR HIM…BUT HOLD THE COUNTRY HOSTAGE!…GO TO HELL GOP….ENJOY THE RIDE!!!!!!
It’s become a nasty, petty exercise, designed to distract from our president’s brilliance and accomplishment. His speech to the prayer breakfast was a deeply spiritual call to all of us, but the US media (aided and abetted by their right wing owners) chose to distort it so that PBO would draw criticism and anger, rather than praise and awe. This ugly game has become old and very stale and the more people call them out on it, the better.
PBO spoke the truth and asked for humility and self-reflection from his Christian audience, who is often too quick to condemn or criticize the Other. Unfortunately, humility is not a quality and self-reflection is not an activity that is compatible with the White supremist mindset of which “Christian supremacy” is often connected. The belief in one’s “superiority” must be protected from facts and realities that contradict that belief or it will crumble. Self-reflection would lead one to realize that no one is perfect and that people are people, regardless of faith or race or nationality. White supremacy/Christian supremacy are fantasies that the mentally weak among us cling to in an effort to obtain a sense of self worth. Any self worth that is dependent on looking down of those that are different is truly “fools gold”. In addition, notice how angry those who hold white supremist views get when confronted with contradictory FACTS. It is a blow to their world view and creates a fearful panic in those so afflicted. It can be argued that the Obama presidency, with its supreme competence and multitude of successes, has also been a trigger for unhinged rage by this set.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said on Tuesday that the U.S. military should look to the movie “American Sniper” in going after terrorist groups like the Islamic State, suggesting American policy is far too concerned with preventing child and civilian casualties.
“It’s like in ‘American Sniper,'” Gosar said in an interview with the Arizona Republic. “Are you prepared to kill a 10-year-old carrying an improvised explosive device?”
Gosar — whose district includes the hometown of a 26-year-old aid worker who was confirmed Tuesday to have recently died in Islamic State custody — argued that the U.S. rules of engagement are weighted too heavily toward protecting civilians.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/paul-gosar-american-sniper-children
Oh sure, let’s use a movie as our guide for conducting anti-terrorism activities, rather than common sense and humanity. After all, what do human lives matter if they’re not our own. What a vile, disgusting, worthless creature this Gosar is.
Those who tweet, Gallup CEO needs the WSJ job graphs…….
Since he was trashing job report numbers last week
AJAM is showing their special about the deaths that have been going on in North Dakota right now.
omg, what deaths in ND? I’ve missed this, Linda.. I moved from ND two years ago, please share.
Al Jazeera America’s “FAULT LINES” Presents “Death on the Bakken Shale”
AJAM is focusing on one that appears to be a murder.
http://america.aljazeera.com/tools/pressreleases/al-jazeera-americasfaultlinespresentsdeathonthebakkenshale.html
I have not read what they have at the link
thank you so much Linda, I’ll check these out.
Nice to see C-SPAN do something Right about then Senator Obama.
8 yrs 😉
I remember the day this lovely family came into our lives, to be honest at first I never thought Senator Barack Obama had a chance to win it all. I think it was after he won Iowa that I thought to myself maybe just maybe he did have a chance. I was on board then and there.
According to TheHill all 17 Jewish Congressmen have said they will attend. What is wrong with them?
Brian Schatz and Bernie Sanders, 2 Jewish Senators, have made a better decision.
has Sen Warren stated whether she will be present for Netanyahu’s speech
#FreeSavchenko
“Readout of the President’s Call with President Putin of Russia
President Obama today called President Vladimir Putin of Russia to address the escalating violence in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s ongoing support for the separatists there. President Obama reiterated America’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. President Obama underscored the rising human toll of the fighting and underscored the importance of President Putin seizing the opportunity presented by the ongoing discussions between Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine to reach a peaceful resolution. The President emphasized the importance of reaching and implementing a negotiated settlement underpinned by the commitments in the Minsk agreement. However, if Russia continues its aggressive actions in Ukraine, including by sending troops, weapons, and financing to support the separatists, the costs for Russia will rise.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/10/readout-presidents-call-president-putin-russia
Readout of the President’s Call with President Poroshenko of Ukraine
President Obama spoke today with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine regarding the situation in eastern Ukraine and the current talks on a cease-fire and peace deal. The President expressed his condolences for the continuing loss of life of Ukrainian citizens and his strong support for the current peace negotiations. Both the President and President Poroshenko praised the contributions of Germany and France in this effort to achieve a sustainable, peaceful resolution to the conflict. They also agreed on the need for Russia to abide by the commitments it made in Minsk in September, which should remain the basis for a negotiated settlement. The President underlined the commitment of the United States to work with our international partners to provide the financial support Ukraine needs as it continues to undertake essential reforms.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/10/readout-president-s-call-president-poroshenko-ukraine
“Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers during a private reception in Germany that he personally supports sending lethal aid to the Ukrainian military, even though President Barack Obama has yet to make a decision on whether to say yes to Ukraine’s arms request.
Kerry is the latest top U.S. official to favor arming Ukraine’s armed forces directly, as they struggle against heavily armed Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Vice President Joe Biden this weekend came very close to endorsing military aid for Ukraine when he pledged to continue to support Ukraine’s “security” needs. The top U.S. general in Europe, Philip Breedlove, has for months been advocating internally for greater U.S. support for Ukraine. Defense secretary nominee Ashton Carter testified last week he was inclined toward sending arms to Kiev.
Two U.S. lawmakers told me that Kerry, in separate conversations Saturday evening at the Munich Security Conference, had told them he was for the lethal aid. Kerry’s position matches that of the State Department writ large, led on this issue by the assistant secretary of state for Europe, Victoria Nuland.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-02-09/kerry-tells-lawmakers-he-s-for-arming-ukraine
“Nadiya’s mother and sister were in court on Tuesday, as well as Ukrainian MPs, diplomats and a large number of journalists. Savchenko’s first public appearance since before her hunger strike began on Dec 13 show her looking gaunt and frighteningly thin. Her lawyers report that the convoy officer refused to give water to her in court – monstrous callousness given her condition after 60 days without any food,
She was, as ever, quite unbroken, as seen in her response to judge Artur Karpov’s standard questions:
“Do you live there?” “I’m living in a cage”
“Have you been convicted before by a Russian court?”
“Thank God, I’d never been in Russia before”
“Your state of health?” “You’ll wait in vain!””
#FreeSavchenko
❤ this 😉
FYI to fellow tweeters –
I just tried to tweet something and up came a weird at the top that said it looked like I was tweeting spam, even though there was nothing spammy about my tweet. It then said I was locked out of my account. To unlock, I had to click on a button. It then asked me for my phone number to verify I was not a spambot and said it would not store it. I hesitated because this sounded weird and I’d never heard of it happening to anyone else. But I went ahead and wrote in my number and I immediately got a text with a pass code, which I then had to enter into the next screen. Now I’m back in. I find this all very weird and just wanted others to know about this if this happens to you.
That’s odd meta…I don’t recall ever giving Twitter my phone number, even when I first registered (Perhaps I did and I just don’t remember). Why would they care to have your phone number and not the email address that you signed up with?!?!?
I can see why you hesitated because, to be honest, I would be a quite uncomfortable entering my my phone number – especially if it involved a weird scenario involving a perfectly benign tweet being flagged as “spam.”
Now it won’t let me tweet anything. I’m also seeing other people tweeting that it’s happened to them, too. Very weird. Maybe it’s another one of their incessant “upgrades.”
Something weird going on, for sure, meta!
I’m pretty sure I haven’t given Twitter my phone number — I’ve changed my phone number multiple times recently, so I try my best to avoid entering a phone number — made that mistake with my Yahoo email and am now locked out of that email account. 😦
FYI…
sounds like someone who is trying to find you.
I would hesitate to share your actual number. Maybe contact twitter and ask about that change to make sure someone didn’t hijack your account.
I blame the GOP, media (as well as some Democrats) for this. In their quest to make our President a failure, they have attempted to empower people like Netanyahu and Putin at the expense of this country’s best interests. Just a couple months ago, the same US media used Netanyahu to take cheap shots at PBO for not appearing at that fake-ass #JeSuisCharlie photo -op session in France.
John Boehner did not invite Bibi in a vacuum. He clearly thought he had the support of the ENTIRE US CONGRESS (HOUSE & SENATE) as well as the ENTIRE US MEDIA behind that decision – based on their nasty, shameful, disrespectful and disgusting behavior in the last 6 years and months leading up to this invitation.
The last speech BIBI made in the US – PBO was abroad, and the US media shamelessly carried BIBI’s speech live while blacking out our President’s important overseas visit. Now they all want to act as though they are soooooooooooooo outraged by BIBI.
US MEDIA, and GOP & DEMS in congress: You BUILT THAT, now OWN it!
hopefruit, meta and all TOD. I am feeling very blue about this mess. Only 21 days to go and Bibi seems to be digging his heels in.
I thought at first he would back out with an excuse about his own campaigning pressures but now it looks like his intention is to tear our country apart.
How is this even possible? How evil and insane with jealousy are Boehner and the rest of them?
This is how they think they will finally break POTUS.
I Don’t think so. Bob says #trustbarack and i will.
I don’t see Netanyahu having the humility to back out of this fiasco. I believe he’s enjoying all the controversy. I’m disgusted that any Democrat would even consider playing into his hands by attending. Absolutely disgusted that they would put his concerns over those of out POTUS and our nation. Period.
So sad. Shameful behavior by Boehner Bibi and anyone who shows up for this ill-advised attack on US sovereignty. The President of the USA sets FP.
It is incumbent upon the legislators to back our President not allow the crazed monster of another country to take shots at PBO in our House. What a betrayal this is. Any Democrats that show up has earned our scorn.
“Democrat that shows up”
What? Really Mr. Axelrod. Well I’ll be dam.
Imagine what they would do if he had lied about weapons of mass destruction – probably would have been fired.
Under the Bus…..
He inflated himself….yet Lara Logan who lied about Benghazi is back at work and Jon Karl still has his job.
Thank you Linda!
Any of you getting messages from Twitter about your tweets appearing to be from an automated source? Weird behavior just started 10 min ago.
This is ‘funny’, I was just writing about the same thing, Bobfr!
Yes, see my note just above. Something is definitely amiss.
Just sent them the following ….
exactly Bobfr. I would not provide a contact number. Seems to be strategically targeting folks.
Okay, twitter experts, what’s this all mean? I was at work all day, so I have no idea what automated action they’re talking about!
“Your account has been locked.
Your account appears to have exhibited automated behavior that violates the Twitter Rules. To unlock your account, please click the button below and confirm that you are the valid account owner.”
To unlock my account they are asking for a phone number!!!!!!! Considering that I have never attached a number to my twitter account I don’t get how that info’s going to prove it’s *my* account.
They also send out an email with a link to click to verify it’s you.
The email I can do and have done for password changes, but don’t wish to connect my phone number to twitter. Have your account had a similar ‘locked’ message?
Yes, twice within 5 minutes. I think twitter is doing some kind of security upgrade maybe because one of their executives got phished today.
Twitter doesn’t send those emails. Sounds like phishing activity.
https://support.twitter.com/articles/204820-fake-twitter-emails
https://support.twitter.com/articles/76036-safe-tweeting-the-basics
Something totally weird is going on, VC. They’ve either been hacked or have introduced some ‘feature’ that is causing the trouble. The only way you can unlock your account is to provide your phone # and they’ll text message you code to unlock. As soon as you do that I suggest you change your password. Log out and Login with the new password.
Seems like it’s a general problem for now. I went to twitter (I’m able to read, not post) and saw a few other people complaining. I hesitate to give my # because they mention that I may be charged for ‘text’? I’ll wait a bit before doing anything.
Good plan!
Just saw this..
VC, did you get that Twitter thing sorted? Email sounded highly dodgy.
I gave up, CC, signing off twitter with the thought I’d give them some time to get their act together. The problem seems to be a general one, so I decided to lay low until they fix it. Did it happen to your account too?
Hiya VC, I was off Twitter for most of the last few hours so only just caught up with this now – I got that message when I tried to tweet at first and the tweet wouldn’t go through, but when I tried again it worked. Very, very, very odd!
Same story here – I was gainfully employed today so was quite shocked when confronted with automated activity by my account. I mean, I spend so much time online that my twitter account now acts on its own initiative when I’m away!!!! Anyway, I won’t try again until later, in case my account needs to be shown who’s boss.
“my twitter account now acts on its own initiative when I’m away”
😆
😉
WTF Twitter is trending. 😦
They’ve either been hacked or, as a result of their CFO being hacked, they’ve introduced a bug in their verification algorithm. Appears lots of folk are locked out of their accounts.
Either MTP or the new reader on NBC Nightly News…
Ouch ….
Ah ha, thanks Donna!
For some completely bizarre reason, I had Twitter Support blocked 😕
My question above now answered – you can ignore it. 😀
Thanks, DD.
Um, twitter, no it’s not. Still not letting me tweet.
Just happened me too Meta, but when I tried tweeting again it worked. Weird!
You have to tweet, wait a beat, then tweet again.
That totally rhymed,
and was exceedingly well-timed.
Thank you LL,
you deserve a Nobel.
Now it’s telling me I’ve been blocked too many times and to try later. LOLz
Beauty break!
And that went in to pending – it’s just not your day, Meta 🙂
GEEZE, if only you knew!
Dearest Chips, when does the open bar commence?
Right *now* – come on in and I’ll pour you a treble!
Haha, you never miss a beat!!
Ah, thanks, luv. Today has been a real drag. XOXO
Just catching up with the Axelrod thing. Fuck him.
I had early ordered his book which I cancelled. what a slimy low life mutha phucker.
Job well done.
I agree….just shut up.
Oooops. I guess they confronted him with a dossier of lies today. Time to get rid of all of them.
Holy smokes. Odd, though – either fire him or accept his apology and let him work on?? A suspension seems like a cop-out. How will his credibility be any more restored in six months?
It’s not even symbolic, 6 months of naval-gazing isn’t going to make any difference. They must be giving him time to find another job.
Find another job? But the suspension is without pay.
Stelter and CNN have become obsessed with Williams.
Stelter needs to turn the camera on his own co-workers…..they lie all the time, about the facts.
Oh Boy….here we go…..
Huff Puff has a tread titled ” Pants on Fire ” by Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel
The 16 times the Obama Administration Lied About The President’s Position On Same-Sex Marriage
Thanks David Axelrod….
This is for Vicki 🙂
Yes, hopefruit. Thank you.
Errol Louis, our local NYC anchor, highlighted this on his “Inside City hall” show tonight. He will be discussing the NYC polls, all of which are very positive for de Blasio, in each show for the rest of the week.
I don’t know if anybody outside of NYC is familiar with Errol but he is a first-rate journalist. Facts only.
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/02/10/a-tweet-or-two-235/
S and T started daycare yesterday….Our babies are growing up 😯 😎 😯
#GrandbabiesRTheBest
Mu-waah, S!
Mu-waah, T!
You are such cutie-pies. ❤ ❤
Lucky and twice Blessed, Grandma DD! 🙂 🙂 Did Princess T want cutex on her fingers before she hit the road (that bottle almost looks like cutex)? 😀