Year: 2013

Categories
michael steele Politics Republican Party

Michael Steele – “This Is Not The Republican Party I Want To Be A Part Of…”

Former Chairman of the RNC Michael Steele and David Corn went on MSNBC’s The Ed Show on Wednesday and spoke about the unbelievable position Republicans and their leaders are taking in the gun debate. Responding to a statement from David Corn where he said that he was “looking for a Republican who will call out this portion of the Republican party who have gone over the edge,” Michael began by saying that he is a supporter of the Second Amendment. And he reassured the audience that he supports the NRA, although he was not a member.

He went on;

“It is time for Republicans across the spectrum and particular on issues like this to stop doing stupid. This is one of those moments where, yea, be concerned about a power grab by the government to come after your guns. I understand that argument completely. But at the same time Ed and David, in the front of your mind are the images of twenty caskets of six year old kids. And you’ve got to say at some point this is not about emotionalism, this is about that reality.

And the leaders of the party have to recognize that we have 85, 90% of the American people solidified behind an issue to begin an honest discussion, not a debate necessarily, a discussion about how do we proceed to keep our kids safe. We should be at the forefront of that.”

When Ed pointed out that the Republican party is not at the forefront of that discussion, Michael Steele chimed in, “I agree with that!”

Ed then spoke about a fund-raising letter that the NRA sent out claiming that they are prepared to do “the battle of the century.” He read from the letter where the NRA told its supporters that “Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to blame you, vilify you, bully you and strip you of your Second Amendment freedoms.” Ed then asked Michael if “this is where the Republican party want to go.”

Michael Steele responded that this is not where the party wanted to go. He then said, “this is certainly not the party I joined when I was a young man and it is certainly not the party I want to be a part of in the future if that’s where the party is going.”

Steele ended the segment by saying that he believes there are Republicans in Congress who will vote for sensible gun laws because that is what a majority of Americans want.

David Corn concluded that the only GOP voices being heard now on this issue are the crazy ones. He said that they are the ones framing the case for the Republican leaders in Congress.

Categories
Technology

Facebook Enters The Search Engine World With ‘Graph Search’

Facebook Graph Search — a new tool that brings an Ask Jeeves-like function to the social-networking giant’s search bar — offers tantalizing possibilities. Want to find friends who like both Pulp Fiction and The Sound of Music? Type the question into the search bar and see the photos of your friends, as results, on the left-side of your profile.

What’s their favorite Mexican restaurant in nearby Palo Alto? Results are listed by restaurant, with the “Likes” of friends listed. (The new search might enliven Likes, as friends decide to share everything with everybody, a recurring theme of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.)

Such a panacea of data isn’t just salivating to advertisers and marketers who want to target their ads on Facebook, but a potential broadside to Google, Yelp, Foursquare and Match.com. Even LinkedIn faces competition: Graph Search is a good way, as Facebook demonstrated, to job recruit.

Zuckerberg insists the new feature, which is being slowly rolled out over the next few months, is not a Web search. But as Graph Search develops, it may more closely resemble Google.com, assuming Google integrates Google+ into its search service.

h/t USA Today

Categories
Tid Bits

Today’s Quote: “Obama Has A Bigger…”

What were you thinking?

Categories
Sports

Yankees To Play Army at West Point Exhibition Game

The Yankees have a very rich history with the Military Academy at West Point. Often, West Point cadets are invited to Yankee Stadium for countless reasons ranging from unfurling large American flags, playing the Star Spangled Banner, fund raisers and College Football games. The history goes back to the days of Gehrig and Ruth. It was not uncommon to see the Yankees play Army in an exhibition game in those days.

Recently though, no such games have been played. In fact, the most recent visit the Yankees have made to West Point was in 1982 when at the request of George Steinbrenner, the Yankees conducted preseason workouts in front of cadets due to snowy conditions at Yankee Stadium. Steinbrenner’s admiration and respect for the school was very well known but for some reason he either never tried to or never succeeded in setting up an exhibition game between his Yankees and the Army Black Knights.

However, this year the Yankee organization was able to do just that. After the Yankees leave Florida, they will make a stop in Washington D.C. to play an exhibition game against the Nationals in their home park. After that, on March 30th, the Yankees will make the trip north of Yankee Stadium to play an exhibition game against the Black Knights in historic West Point. I’m sure many fans will take this opportunity to see a great afternoon of Baseball. I know I will.

Categories
executive actions gun Politics violence

President Obama Delivers His Plan To Reduce Gun Violence – Video

In case you missed it, President Obama and Vice President Biden introduced their plan today to help curb gun violence. Watch as the President discussed the legislative and executive actions needed to close background check loopholes, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

His plan included signing an Executive Order on 23 issues relating to guns.

Categories
executive orders Politics

Here Are The 23 Executive Orders On Guns Signed By President Obama

Today, the President has announced that he and the administration will:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

11. Nominate an ATF director.

12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper
training for active shooter situations.

13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

Categories
New Orleans NFL Sports

NFL Championship Weekend

The NFL playoffs have been incredible so far and now we enter Championship Weekend with two great games set to be played. First, the Falcons will see if Matt Ryan can seal the deal against Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers in Atlanta. Then it’s up to Foxboro to see if the Ravens can help Ray Lewis end his career hoisting the Lombardi Trophy or if the Patriots are going to setup their second straight trip to the Super Bowl.

At this point, my hopes of a Washington vs Indianapolis matchup are dead. So at this point, I’m pulling for a Ravens vs 49ers big game. I think Kaepernick is going to outshine Ryan and despite my hatred for the 49ers, I believe they are going to win the NFC Championship game they couldn’t win last year, and book a trip to New Orleans on February 3rd.

I also think that the Patriots will not return to the Super Bowl this year. I think the Ravens are a good team that got hot at the right time and will ride this wave straight to New Orleans. I don’t think either game will be a laugher but I expect the Ravens, Pats games to be especially nerve racking.

Sunday will come soon and we shall see if I’m correct.

Categories
New York News

New York School Bus Drivers Begin Strike Today

More than 8,000 New York City school bus drivers and matrons went on strike over job protection this morning, leaving some 152,000 students, many disabled, trying to find other ways to get to school.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the strike started at 6 a.m. Wednesday. About 200 bus drivers and bus matrons were assembled on picket lines in the Queens section of the city.

‘The first days will be extremely chaotic,’ Walcott told 1010 WINS radio. ‘It hasn’t happened in New York City in over 33 years.’0ver 33 years’

The union did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.

Most of the city’s roughly 1.1 million public school students take public transportation or walk to school.

Those who rely on the buses include 54,000 special education students and others who live far from schools or transportation.

h/t Daily Mail

Categories
Fashion Michelle Obama

Afri-clectic! Designer Duro Olowu

I loved him long before Michelle Obama did!

Nigerian fashion designer Duro Olowu that is. However, its been obvious that the Lagos born, London based designer has become a fast favorite of the First Lady since she was first spotted rocking one of his spectacularly colored, richly patterned dress designs while campaigning for her husband back in in 2008.

Pieces from Michelle Obama’s Duro Olowu Collection.
The “Duro” Dress by Duro Olowu

I remembered Mr. Olowu piquing my interests way back in 2005, when I read how he quit law school to start his own label, premiering with his signature kimono-like dress the “Duro”. You’ve probably seen it all over, with it’s large, clashing patterns, empire waistline, full, knee-length skirt and doleman like sleeves. It was a huge success and was featured in every major fashion magazine.  Olowu  won “New Designer of the Year” at the British Fashion Awards in the same year, without ever holding a runway show! An impressive first.  And knowing Michelle the way I do (that’s right! Her birthday’s in the same week as mine) she’s impressed by “Firsts”.  Scrolling ahead to 2013, Olowu is now designing for none other than the giant urban retailer, JCPenney!

In an  interview by Bloun Artfino a French online magazine, the designer spoke about the FLOTUS wearing his designs:

“It’s a great honor. It’s a nice thing to have on your resume…(i)It’s really nice to have somebody who is not only a First Lady, but a great role model wearing my things quite regularly. She’s really democratic in her choices and she mixes things up. I’m a huge fan — of the administration and of her. We all are in England, everywhere in the world. I feel sort of honored and really thrilled that my things are also useful in that way. I don’t think that sort of wardrobe is just based on fantasy. It’s a mix of fantasy, practicality, and looking appropriate. It’s a nice thing.”

Although outfitting yourself in an entire Duro ensemble, with its seemingly random combination of hues, patterns and textures, will probably be more to the liking an eclectic taste in clothing, you can still pull off a colorful, beautifully bold African aesthetic with just a few pieces. A Duro  geometric-print top to wear with your favorite jeans, a fly skirt with a free-style pattern paired with a simple but elegant tailored blouse or one of the designer’s vivid satin shrugs to wear over a  solid top and bottom. Any of these combinations will be enough to set you apart from the ordinary. As for me…just color me eclectic!

Want to see more African designers? Click here!
Adorn You: Doro Olowu-SUMMER 2012 DESIGNS

 

 

 

Categories
Politics

The NRA Targets Obama’s Daughters In New Web Ad

We are talking about the NRA here. These are the same folks who, one week after 20 children were gunned down in Newtown Connecticut, came out and said, the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.

Nothing is off-limits for the group of crazies who runs this organization, so when they released this new ad today, I was taken aback. But I soon realized who was responsible for putting out something so low.

The NRA!

Categories
Politics republican fail

The Tide is Turning For Obama

Whatever happened to the Republican opposition? President Obama hasn’t even taken the oath of office for the second time and already the GOP has caved on the fiscal cliff, the prospect of immigration reform, and Sandy relief. Oh, and their opposition to any and all forms of gun control is going to cost them at the ballot box. Maybe not in their gerrymandered districts, but on a national level. Newtown was a tipping point. Mark my words.

The negotiations over the debt ceiling and spending cuts will likely go the president’s way too. Why? Because more of the public wants a compromise that includes modest adjustments to entitlements rather than the slash and burn Greek/Spain approach that the “take your medicine” caucus led by Eric Cantor is proposing. Do not ever forget that the true purpose of the Republicans Party’s spending program is to overturn the New Deal and Great Society. They’ve hated those programs for almost 80 years now and for a long time they could taste the victory they believed was rightfully theirs.

But then came November 2012 and the revenge of the real math league that correctly forecast an Obama victory. That didn’t just anger the right; it led to conspiracy theories and a final take-no-prisoners approach to governing that the GOP thinks is a winning strategy. It isn’t.

So now they’re talking about forcing the president to accept drastic cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling rise. The only problem is that most Americans are on Obama’s pragmatic side because they understand that the Recession caused the deficit, not the other way around. Once we get ourselves out of the downturn, and we’re slowly doing just that, the deficit will narrow. People will be productively back at work. Tax revenues will rise. Consumers will begin spending again, if only cautiously. So the GOP’s strategy is doomed to fail. They’ve tried it before and our credit rating was cut. Now there’s evidence that it could be cut more. We’ve seen this movie. It doesn’t end well.

President Obama seems like a new man these days, issuing ultimatums and using the power of his office to effect change on gun control and, I’m assuming, on immigration. He’s said that he’s no longer going to negotiate on the debt ceiling and he’s exactly right. If push comes to shove, he should invoke the 14th Amendment and let the Congress and the Courts figure out if he’s right. He’s said he won’t do that. Too bad. The other option is to call Congress’s bluff and let them take the heat when the government shuts down. Ask Newt Gingrich how that worked out the last time.

Oh, wait. I don’t care what Newt says.

The boss has a new attitude. And things are about to change.

Register your comments at www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Sports

Lance Armstrong: Forgive Him or Forget Him

Oprah has wrapped her interview with alleged performance enhancing drug user, Lance Armstrong. In the interview that will air on Thursday, Armstrong admits to using PEDs throughout his career. The interview was two and a half hours long and Armstrong reportedly gets into details about when exactly he used PEDs and why but as of right now, there aren’t many details from the interview because their is a non-disclosure agreement in place since the interview will air on Thursday.

What’s the next step? Do we forgive what Armstrong has done? Or maybe we just forget about him forever. Well, I don’t think either of those answers are right. This man is not stupid. He was risking being charged for perjury but the statute of limitations has run out on that charge. We are not talking about a man who is desperately looking for forgiveness and will take whatever punishment he deserves. We’re talking about a man who is cunningly making his way through the apology tour to rehabilitate his shattered public image. The excuse that he did it because everyone else was too, that doesn’t make it ok. That just makes everyone else wrong also.

So his seven Tour De France wins were a lie. Actually, it’s unclear at this point if they were all tainted but even if they all are, does that mean that everything he’s ever done is tainted? Even Livestrong? No, of course not. Lance Armstrong cheated. He made a huge career altering and defining mistake. However, Armstrong created and helped lead an organization that has raised over $470 million for cancer research. That’s still pretty damn incredible.

So before you rip off your Livestrong bracelet and throw it in the trash, think about what that yellow bracelet means. Do you wear it because its going to help you win the Tour De France? No. You bought it because the money went to help someone with cancer.

I’m disappointed that Armstrong did PEDs but I would be much more disappointed if all that money didn’t go to an amazing cause. But it did. Don’t forget that.

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