Night owl chat – Madness

As a young boy growing up in Washington Heights, I, thanks to my surroundings, had a wide range of musical tastes. I learned to love classical on my own. My brothers got me into everything from the Beatles to Elvis Costello. My friends inducted me into b-boy culture. And MTV was where I learned of Madness.

Their videos opened a new world to me, far away from my barrio. London! Pork pie hats! Ska rhythms! It was awesome.

And, as if I couldn’t love them enough, when I started watching real football, and fell in love with Chelsea FC, I learned that Suggs, their frontman, is a devoted Blue. So, for tonight’s night owl chat, some Madness.

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One Step Beyond

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It Must Be Love

‘My Heart And Soul Are Pretty Well Banged Up’

VP Biden:

“We’re dealing at home with … whether or not there is the emotional fuel at this time to run. If I were to announce to run, I have to be able to commit to all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my whole soul, and right now, both are pretty well banged up.”

“I’m not trying to skirt your question. That’s the truth of the matter, but believe me, I’ve given this a lot of thought and dealing internally with the family on how we do this.”

More here

They thought they could control them

Yesterday, Jorge Ramos of Univision was unceremoniously escorted out of a Donald Trump press conference by one of the Hair’s goons, for daring to ask a question “out of turn”. Trump told Mr. Ramos to “sit down”, and then to “go back to Univision”. (I guess even The Hair wasn’t prepared to say “go back to Mexico, you wetback.”) Our brave press corps… did nothing. Journalists of conscience would have gotten up en masse and walked out right behind Mr. Ramos. I’m old enough to remember when the good and the great of the major media outlets rallied around Fox News when President Obama took off the gloves with them. Imagine if Pres. Obama had done something like this at one of his campaign press conferences, or, heaven forbid, at a presidential one. Calls for his impeachment would be hurling in 72 point type on newspapers and from well-coiffed news anchors.

However, even though I was going to write at length about this contretemps, I realized that the expulsion of Mr. Ramos is not the story. It is a mere manifestation of a much darker reality.

I mocked Trump (I refuse to be polite and call him “Mr.”). I thought he was the greatest thing to happen to Democrats since Dan Quayle. And, if by some malfeasance he does manage to be the GOP nominee, he lost the general election yesterday. The image of the Latino Walter Cronkite being frog-marched out of a press availability will galvanize the Latino community like nothing else. Not because Latinos are celebrity-mongers who will rally around Mr. Ramos, but because he and his treatment represent what Latinos fear the most from the GOP. Trump just handed the Latino community the symbol it needed, in a way which even his outrageous words didn’t.

But I’m no longer mocking him. I’m taking him very seriously. Because what may have begun as a lark is no longer that. It’s obvious that Trump is taking this campaign to heart, and is in it to win. And that should give everyone a good scare.

Why Biden? The 65-69 million Obama Coalition…Duh!

by @zizii2

You dance with the one who brung ya.

The Obama Coalition

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So no one thinks that the coalition of 65-69 million American citizens with a proven record of WINNING back to back presidential elections in record numbers, because they organize, stand in line for hours in rain and frost, MUST be feverishly re-activated for the next election? Of course it must.

The Obama Coalition

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Yet thus far none of the Democratic Party candidates has seriously courted the Obama-Coalition. I say seriously, precisely because it took more than the letter “D” beside a candidate’s name, or political platitudes, or a liberal wish-tree to put the coalition together in the first place. Plus no one size fits all in activating this coalition, as its different components were motivated by different strategies of persuasion. This is a coalition that did not care about name, pedigree, or size of wallet when it backed the insurgent Obama candidacy. It did not have its head in the clouds in a lofty quest for unicorns either.

The President Honors Phoenix Mercury

12:15 EDT: The President honors the 2014 WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury

Rise and Shine

On This Day: President Obama and his daughters Malia and Sasha eat take-out lunch of fried seafood at Nancy’s Restaurant in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard on August 26, 2009

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Today

12:15: The President honors the 2014 WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury, East Room

2:20: The President is interviewed by local news anchors participating in “Live from the White House”, Diplomatic Reception Room

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On This Day: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden visit with Staff Sergeant Ty M. Carter, U.S. Army, and family in the Blue Room prior to the Medal of Honor ceremony honoring Carter in the East Room of the White House, Aug. 26, 2013. The President holds Carter’s daughter Sehara (Photo by Pete Souza)

Early Bird Chat

On This Day: President Barack Obama plays basketball with White House staffers while on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Aug. 26, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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MoooOOOooorning!