Year: 2013

Categories
Immigration Immigration Reform Politics

John McCain on Fox News – “Fox News is a bit schizophrenic”

If Republican John McCain keeps this up, I’m going to have to write more good things about him.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked for his thoughts on the love/hate relationship that he has had with the personalities on Fox News Channel over the years. McCain told TNR’s Isaac Chotiner that he has never changed, but Fox’s opinion of him and the issues he tackles has shifted dramatically over the years. “I think that Fox News is a bit schizophrenic,” the Arizona senator opined.

“You have had conversations with people at Fox, The New Yorker reported, about immigration,” Chotiner asked, citing a report by Ryan Lizza which revealed that McCain had approached Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes asking him and his network to be more receptive to immigration reform proposals.

“There is a real divide in the party,” Chotiner continued. “What do Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch say about whether the party can come along on this issue?”

“It is well known that Rupert Murdoch is a strong supporter of immigration reform,” McCain replied. “Roger Ailes is also a realist. He believes that immigration reform is vital to the country first, but also the GOP. Yet he does not dictate. [Sean] Hannity has come out against it and kept his job. I don’t think Roger Ailes is ham-fisted.”

RELATED: John McCain Goes After Fellow GOPer On Senate Floor: He ‘Ought To Learn’ How Congress Operates

“But if you watch Fox, there are all these segments on immigrants and crime and so on, and people get riled up, and then they want reform,” the TNR reporter followed up. “It’s a difficult dynamic in the party.”

“I think that Fox News is a bit schizophrenic,” McCain shot back. “I saw a guy on “Hannity,” maybe “Huckabee,” and the guy said, “You know, the Chinese are coming across our border, and they are going to commit cyber-attacks.”

Chotiner expressed incredulity over the belief that one would have to cross a physical border to execute a cyber-attack. “Honest to God!” McCain assured him. “They are going to commit cyber-attacks.”

Categories
New Jersey News Politics

Christie Unbound

If the thought of Chris Christie being reelected makes you feel woozy, then imagine him reelected and with a Republican majority in the Senate, if not the state legislature. My apologies if you’ve re-tasted your breakfast. The thought of that possibility is just as noxious to me, especially when it comes to education.

Consider: With a majority in both houses, Christie would get a vouchers bill, end seniority in the public workforce, and cut funding to districts that need to make up for low incomes and a dearth of jobs (remember jobs? His first term was supposed to be all bout jobs.).

It’s all laid out in this article, and it reads like a right wing wishlist.

Most educators understand that the Governor would love to make public schools into private schools complete with no unions, lower pay and no job security. That private schools can skim the best students from the admissions list, do not have to administer state tests (this makes absolutely no sense), and have endowments from their wealthy alumni/donors does not seem to make a difference to Christie or his minions. They seem to think that if you repeal all of the rules and strip away bargaining rights then schools will miraculously improve, and so will teachers. After all, we love low pay and high-cost benefits that we have to pay for.

Further, with a Republican Senate, Christie can get two more conservative judges on the state Supreme Court where the school funding formula, indeed all spending on education, would be up for revision, rescission and reassignment. Yes, the suburban districts do need to have all of the funding that was taken from them in Christie’s first year returned to them with interest, but the government still needs to fully fund the urban districts that desperately need help. More revenue from top wage earners would be out of the question, so a second term would simply exacerbate the already large differences between the well-off and the rest of New Jersey under Christie II.

And just in case you thought that he is a New Jersey brand of Republicans, please think again. Chris Christie wants to be president in the worst way. He’s already had his stomach surgery so he can slim down in time for the 2015 money/policy push, and he’s become involved in the GOP’s foreign policy debates in a big way, opposing what he sees as a misguided attempt by the libertarians to ease our diligent anti-terrorism policies.

You can look for more right-wing promises on domestic issues too, many of which will be field tested in New Jersey for maximum national exposure. He’s certainly on the wrong side of the marriage equality issue, but not if you’re a conservative. A referendum might get that done in NJ, but it will also give Christie the opportunity to say that the voters took the issue out of his hands.

There’s enough to be wary of in a second Christie administration. That’s why it’s imperative that all progressives come out and vote in November and make sure they vote on the down ticket offices too. The man is serious about implementing his hard right agenda; it’s high time we played serious too.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Relationships

How To Select The Best Photo For Your Online Dating Profile

Branden Lee is a blogger, screenwriter, producer, and actor, currently residing in Boston, MA. Follow Branden on Twitter and Tumblr.

2013 is already more than halfway over, and summer is coming to a close. Before you know it, the fall will be upon us, and the cold weather will arrive. Winter is coming, and nobody wants to be lonely. It’s time to reactivate or create those online dating profiles to get a man/woman/whatever you’re into!

Personally I think the fall is always the time when I want a boyfriend the most. I’d love to have a boyfriend by Halloween so we can coordinate our outfits together. My birthday is in November so I’d love to receive birthday sex, and also to actually have a guy give me gifts. Christmas is in December so that means even more gifts. January has New Years and I’d love to have a New Years’ kiss. Finally February is Valentine’s Day and I’d love to finally have a valentine.

I haven’t had much to do this summer, so lately I’ve been obsessing over my online dating profiles. I don’t really date during summer, but during the school year I go on more dates than anyone I know. I’ve been utilizing online dating sites for over 2 years now, and still haven’t found a boyfriend on any site, but life is about the quest! Like Miley Cyrus sings “It’s about the climb.” There’s no telling if or when a relationship will happen for me, but it’s better to be the person who’s actively putting themselves out there and going on lots of dates, than to be the person who’s sitting at home alone with no potential love interests in their lives at all.

From January-April I went on 9 dates with 7 guys, and I’m hoping to break that record for the upcoming semester. I know it would be better to find one guy to have all the dates with and finally find a loving committed relationship, but you never know what you’ll get online, so might as well enjoy as many free meals as possible for as long as I can.

Choosing the right pictures for your profile is essential. So here are a few of my rules for selecting the best photos to represent yourself online to acquire the most dates.

1. NO SUNGLASSES IN YOUR MAIN PHOTO

I never even notice people’s eye color, but eye contact is essential on a date. If you’re only allowed one photo for whichever dating site you’re using, don’t hide your eyes. Some believe “The eyes are the window to the soul”, but I just believe your eyes are an important part of your face, so show them off. No one wants to message someone who you can’t fully see their face, so make sure yours isn’t masked by anything. When someone messages you, or you message someone, both parties want to see exactly who they’re communicating with, and if there’s a potential attraction. Everyone should always ask for additional photos of whoever they’re chatting with, but no one should have to ask for additional photos to fully see your face. If anything, your face should be the most prominent part of your body displayed in your primary photo.

2. NO MAKEUP IN YOUR MAIN PHOTO

I don’t wear makeup often, but as a feminine flamboyant gay boy, I do love to wear makeup whenever I go clubbing.  On average I go clubbing once a week during the school year, and probably less than once a month during the summer. Sometimes I get amazing pictures of myself from my clubbing nights, that I want to show off.

Unfortunately the gay world is extremely misogynistic and bashes anything feminine. Most guys are constantly displaying how they only want a “masculine” guy on their profile, or are “masc4masc” only. Granted I know better to not message a guy who clearly stipulates this, but I randomly received several prejudiced messages recently saying how I’d be so much more attractive if I wasn’t so feminine and didn’t wear makeup.I don’t see the point of messaging me at all if you don’t like feminine guys. I clearly state on my profile if you don’t like girly guys then you won’t like me. Also what’s the point of messaging someone to say you aren’t attracted to them. Even if you say I’m attractive, but hate that I wear makeup or that I’m feminine, that’s clearly an insult. I don’t message people to tell them I’d be attracted to them if they were a different person, and would prefer it didn’t happen to me. But there’s nothing I can do to change it.

 Granted I think if you are a gay boy and love to wear makeup, definitely have at least one picture wearing makeup, because I’d rather attract a guy who accepts and isn’t bothered by my love of makeup. It’s part of who I am, and if some guys can’t handle that, then they obviously aren’t someone I’d want to be with.

But my reasoning for no makeup in the display photo, unless you wear makeup every day is because, like sunglasses, makeup can hide your natural appearance. Everyone wants to see what they’d be getting when they message someone, so show off your natural face. Granted if you wear makeup every single day, then obviously post pictures wearing makeup in most your photos.I’m in no way saying hide your femininity or don’t post pictures wearing makeup. But if you don’t wear it often, like myself, and the guy can only see one picture of me, then I should show my face in it’s natural state which is makeup free. If your face in it’s natural state is covered in makeup, then by all means post as many pictures wearing makeup as possible.

But don’t ever make your main photo of yourself in Halloween makeup or costume attire. It can be one of your other photos on your profile, but it’s always important to show off your everyday face.

3. WEAR A SHIRT IN YOUR MAIN PHOTO

The internet is filled with a surplus of freaks and perverts. and you don’t want to attract them to your online dating profile. Though it’s impossible to prevent them from messaging you, and no matter what you are wearing in your main photo you will attract freaks and perverts who are solely messaging you for sex. But one way to detract those kinds of people is to wear clothes. I love to dress slutty, so I can’t help posting pictures of myself scantily clad, but I refuse to post any shirtless pics as my main pictures on my profile. Sexy selfies are best saved for private pics or to exchange later. But for you main display pictures always wear clothes. If you have to post a shirtless pic, just make sure your nipples are covered and it’s from the shoulders up.

If you’re just looking for a hookup online, then go ahead and post your shirtless mirror pics or bikini beach pictures. But if you’re hoping to attract someone who’s attracted to your face/self instead of just your hot body, then cover up. You don’t have to dress conservatively or not like your natural self. I’m not going to only post pictures of myself online dressed in a suit and tie, since I don’t even normally dress like that. Show off your natural self, but your natural clothed self. So basically even if it’s a belly shirt or tank top, just make sure you’re wearing some kind of shirt.

These are just a few helpful tips to help you with your online profile. Please keep them in mind, and good luck getting dates!

Categories
Entertainment

18 OF THE HOTTEST BLACK ACTORS IN 2013!

18 fiiiiine Black male actors we’d like to see more of on the silver screen…

 

( Click on images to enlarge.)

Categories
Immigration Immigration Reform Politics

John McCain: Without Immigration Reform, “the Republican Party cannot win a national election”

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain is finding his Mavericky ways again. He has begun to buck his party’s wish to go against everything President Obama wants with the goal or hope that the president fails, and McCain is actually working with other Senate Democrats to get things done. So it’s no surprise hearing this Mavericky Senator warns his fellow Republicans, telling them that doing nothing on Immigration will seal the party’s fate as a loser in future national elections.

“I think this fall is very important,” McCain said at a forum hosted by AFL-CIO and the Economic Policy Institute. “It’s very important because we get into 2014 — the next election cycle. I think the issue really has ripened to the point that enough Americans are aware of it, we are either going to act or not act.”

On PBS Monday, McCain said that if immigration reform is not passed, the Republican Party will never again win a national election.

“Let’s say we enact it, comprehensive immigration reform — I don’t think it gains a single Hispanic voter, but what it does, it puts us on a playing field where we can compete for the Hispanic voter,” McCain told PBS’ Gwen Ifill. “If we don’t do that, frankly, I don’t see — I see further polarization of the Hispanic voter and the demographics are clear that the Republican Party cannot win a national election. That’s just a fact.”

McCain compared the current system to “de facto amnesty because they are not leaving” and said that in his experience and from polls he’s seen, most Americans support the pathway to citizenship as long as the undocumented pay a fine, learn English and get on the back of the line.

“It (immigration) has a broader spectrum of support than any I have ever seen in my political career,” he said. He said that the broad range of groups and communities that support immigration reform “can galvanize” in the coming months to make passage a reality.

Categories
Sports

Alex Rodriguez Has Become The Villain

Alex Alex Rodriguez has effectively turned himself into MLB’s public enemy number one. He is now Baseball’s Villain.

It’s been almost six months since we first heard about the Miami based anti aging clinic that was allegedly pedaling performance enhancing drugs to more than 20 MLB players. And here we are, waiting with bated breath to find out exactly how Major League Baseball will deal with these dopers. We have already seen Ryan Braun served with a 67 game suspension that will cover the remainder of the 2013 season. Now word is Nelson Cruz will be suspended this week. Braun’s suspension doesn’t hurt the Brewers because they are not in a pennant race. Cruz’s absence is much more noticeable for a Texas team that seems playoff bound.

But what about the big fish? The 1,000 pound marlin that Bud Selig would love to reel in and mount on his wall of shame. The word around the baseball universe is that the amount of evidence the league has on Alex Rodriguez far surpasses the amount they had on Braun. The analogy has been used that the league has “a skyscraper of evidence on A-Rod compared to a Lego they had on Braun.” It seems as though Bud Selig is absolutely fed up with Alex Rodriguez because insiders are claiming that Selig is getting ready to put the final nail in Rodriguez’s coffin.

Commissioner Bud Selig poses with child wearing an “A*ROID shirt.

The team A-Rod has hired to defend him has said that they will fight any suspension handed down to Alex. This was stated just after word had leaked that the commissioner’s office offered Rodriguez a deal. Accept a plea of a suspension for the rest of this season and all of next season and Selig would not seek to ban him for life. Now that it seems Rodriguez will fight the ban instead of taking the deal, Selig is no longer messing around. A-Rod could appeal the ban based on the collectively agreed drug policy and he would still be eligible to play during that appeal process. Selig wants to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The commissioner now plans to use the Collective Bargaining Agreement to ban Alex Rodriguez rather than the drug policy. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, according to Article XI Section A1b of the CBA, the commissioner has the ability to ban a player for life based on preserving the integrity of the game of baseball. In this situation, Rodriguez can still appeal but he would not be eligible to play through the process. Also, instead of having an arbitration hearing to decide his fate, A-Rod would instead be appealing to very man that enacted the punishment, Mr. Bud Selig. Needless to say, Rodriguez would lose the appeal.

A-Rod could then take MLB to court but at that time, MLB would move to ban Alex based on the drug policy, to which he could also appeal. So Rodriguez and the MLB would be locked into a court case and an arbitration hearing. So lets talk scenarios.

Best scenario for Alex: He wins the court case and the CBA ban is dropped and then the arbitrator rules in his favor for the drug policy ban. No way the arbitrator lets him walk with the mountain of evidence he has against him. He still serves a severe suspension but is able to attempt a return to the game after a certain amount of time and look to collect on the remaining $60-75 million left on his contract.

Worst scenario for Alex: He loses the court case so therefore the arbitration hearing is moot and he is banned from the game for life. Never being eligible for employment in any regard by Major League Baseball. Plus he loses the rest of his money and the Yankees get out of a major contract.

It’s hard not to ask yourself why this man would even consider fighting at this point. Selig isn’t f**king around.

Categories
Bill O'Reilly Racism

I don’t want to have a conversation about “black on black crime.”

“The criminal black man is an ethnic stereotype in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries according to which black males are expected to be criminal and dangerous.” 

 

I don’t want to have a conversation with Bill O’Reilly, or anybody else for that matter, about “black on black crime.” Not unless we can have a serious conversation about “white on white crime”. Or “Asian on Asian crime”, “Latino on Latino crime”. Hell, let’s talk about “Native American on Native American” crime.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

Of course any crime committed by one person against the other should be met with justice, fair and swift. Especially when it concerns a loss of life.

But let’s be real Bill. The idea that there is something degeneratively defective about the black race and its culture that causes it to prey on its own like no other race is — at best– science fiction.

The terminology “black on black crime” is a code to encourage public policies that treat black people as malignant cancers on the society-at-large. Explaining the tragedies and criminality that befall some black enclaves in this country as exclusive only to those enclaves is not only wrong, its dangerous.

At this juncture in our history — a history that now includes the dismantling of a key component of the Voting Rights Act — its become imperative that we cease and desist in using the separatist term. That includes black people too, particularly our politicians.

And after all, Isn’t this really about proximity? There’s a reason why the majority of white victims of crime are victimized by other whites. Does Mr. O’Reilly see this as an endemic to white communities? Does he want to have a real discourse on the prevalence of white on white crime in the suburbs, in trailer parks or on Park Avenue?

Still sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?

As I mentioned earlier, criminality is a scourge on all of society as whole. No particular race, creed or culture is any more prone to criminal behaviour than another. We are all surrounded by an actively violent society that needs to be rectified with intelligent, open and honest reflection and actions.

I believe that O’Reilly is conscientiously aware of this. whether he’s really ready to have a conscientious discussion about it — well, that’s another story altogether.

 
Categories
Politics

President Obama to Republicans – Where’s Your Jobs Plan?

After leading Republicans swiftly rejected President Barack Obama’s new “grand bargain” proposal, which would lower corporate tax rates in exchange for more spending on infrastructure, the president responded Tuesday by calling for a substantive counter-offer.

“I am laying out my ideas to give the middle class a better shot in a 21st-century economy,” Obama said in a speech on the economy in Chattenooga, Tennessee. “Now it’s time for Republicans to lay out theirs.

“Putting all your eggs in the basket of an oil pipeline that may only create about 50 permanent jobs, and wasting the country’s time by taking something like 40 meaningless votes to repeal Obamacare isn’t a jobs plan,” he added.

Categories
Domestic Policies Healthcare News Politics

The Endgame

Here’s what’s clear: the success of President Obama’s second term will come down to the next few months of 2013 and early 2014 in the form of immigration reform, the success of the health care law, and the rising economy. There probably will be no grand bargain on the debt (thank heavens), tax reform is a long way off, and the Republicans don’t believe enough in real science to have a discussion about energy and the environment. So we’ll have to be happy from small victories.

The health care law is the most important. The GOP has staked its past, present and future on the law’s failure, (and has threatened to shut down the government rather than accept it) but that’s probably not going to happen. Will there be problems? You bet, and the right wing will loudly report each and every example of someone who has to pay more, or accept coverage that they don’t need or want, or how doctors and hospitals are suffering, but in the end, the law will cover more people and result in a healthier society.

It might even result in more people finding less costly insurance through the exchanges than through their employers. That would be a tremendous coup because then businesses will be relieved of the pressure of covering their employees and people will not have to stay in terrible jobs simply for the benefits. I don’t see this happening quickly, but if the market (you remember the market. This is a law all about the market.) makes it less expensive to buy from the exchanges, then that’s what people will do. betting against health insurance is a losing proposition.

Immigration reform will probably not pass the House in its Senate version, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that a more comprehensive bill than the House purports to disdain will come out of the legislature. The Republicans can talk tough, but I do think that they see the electoral graffiti on the wall and understand that passing nothing will do them great harm. Perhaps the gerrymandered districts will allow them to keep the House, but that’s a flimsy wall to hide behind for a party that’s lost the popular vote in all but one national election since 1992.

The Republican Party is clueless, but it’s not, you know, clueless.

During the past presidential election cycle, I wrote repeatedly that the conservative wave was crashing and that the GOP would become dangerously radical. I hate to say that I was right, but we are now living in the extremist bubble and it’s not going to pop for another two or four years. During that time we can look forward to more attempts at voter suppression, curbs on reproductive rights and a call to eliminate or severely cut back on social programs such as food stamps, unemployment compensation and Medicare. If the Democrats can hold the line against the tide, they can slowly turn the country back in a less dangerous direction. Then we can truly address the problems we have in a pragmatic, sensible manner.

Until then, we’ll be playing defense.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Music

Authorities – Drugs Found on Justin Bieber’s Tour Bus

The name of his tour is “Believe,” like I believe that this kid is officially out of control based on his recent antics and the so-called “friends” he hangs out with. An intervention may be necessary.
Justin Bieber tweeted “I’m a lucky guy” on Tuesday morning — and it may have been because he narrowly escaped a drug bust over the weekend.

The embattled pop star’s Believe Tour has been riddled with headline-grabbing bad boy antics since the beginning, the latest of which came Sunday as Bieber was on his way to perform in Detroit.

U.S. border agents found marijuana on one of the “Baby” singer’s tour buses as it crossed into Detroit from Windsor, Canada — but Bieber wasn’t on it.

The bus was stopped as it attempted to enter the U.S. on the Ambassador Bridge, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ken Hammond confirmed to the Detroit Free Press.

Categories
Education News

Philadelphia Playground Site Of 3,000 African-American Graves, Archaeologists Find

Just days after archaeologists on Maryland’s eastern shore uncovered what they believe to be the oldest settlement of African-Americans in the United States, another team in Philadelphia unearthed what may be the resting place of nearly 3,000 others under a playground in the city’s Weccecoe Park.

On Thursday, Douglas Mooney, senior archaeologist for URS corporation and his colleagues dug up a single white gravestone belonging to 26-year-old Amelia Brown, who was likely a member of the Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, who bought the burial site as a private cemetery in 1810 and used it as such until 1864.

 

Categories
News Politics

Anthony Weiner Publicly Scolded

This video is super awkward … Anthony Weiner was put on BLAST Friday by an ex-school teacher for his raunchy, sexting ways … and it all happened while cameras rolled.Weiner was visiting homes damaged by Superstorm Sandy, when he walked into a s**t storm himself … in the form of Peg Brunda a retired teacher, who went off on him.

Read more: TMZ

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