"A dissection of the events... suggests that it isn’t government austerity that is responsible for the debacle but the government itself. And at every level: local, state, federal, elected officials, administrative agencies, you name it..."and this The Flint Water Crisis Is the Result of a Stimulus Project Gone Wrong
Carson ... said he was in favor of giving same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, short of marriage.NBC News obviously wants to destroy the threat of any independent-thinking black man as quickly as possible. So it should come as no surprise that, by the time Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart filled in for MSNBC's Martin Bashir, Carson's apology was treated as far from sufficient. In short, Capehart and his guests, Toure' and Krystal Ball, treated the apology as a lie.This is all par for the course at NBC News.Sadly, so is the chryron pictured above -- "Blinded by the White" -- which was used as the clip of Dr. Carson played during the segment.NBC News is notorious for using this kind of race-baiting to further its left-wing agenda, including fraud
Is it offensive to show bikini-clad models alongside locals around the world?
Kate Upton covers the 2013 'SI' swimsuit issue.(Photo: Derek Kettela, AP)
The icy, hot Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has prompted some controversy.
No, no one's complaining about Kate Upton's curves (that we know of, anyway).
Jezebel.com stirred up chatter this week by pointing out that the issue features models posing with "natives." Writer Dodai Stewart goes on to say that "using people of color as background or extras is a popular fashion trope, whether it's Nylon magazine, the Free People catalogue, British Vogue or J.Crew. But although it's prevalent, it's very distasteful." She adds: "People are not props."
The 2013 SI swimsuit issue does indeed feature many people from around the world, in addition to its models. There's an African man with a spear in the background of a photo shot in Namibia. In a photo taken in China, the model sits on a raft as a man uses a pole to propel it. "A white person relaxing, a person of color working," writes Stewart.
In a press call today, cover girl Kate Upton and model Genevieve Morton joined Travel Channel general manager Andy Singer and SI swimsuit issue editor MJ Day to talk about Sports Illustrated: The Making of Swimsuit '13 – 7 Continents, 17 Wonders, premiering Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. And they addressed the controversy.
But first, they proudly talked about what went into the globe-covering issue. More than 90,000 miles, 230 hours, 10,000 photos, 100 hours of video and 400-800 bathing suits were needed to pull off what Day calls a "very ambitious effort." It took seven months of shooting on all seven continents.
"Having been here for 14 years," said Day, "not to pat myself on the back, but this is the most mind-blowing, awe-inspiring, ambitious achievement you've ever seen in print and in video." She said, "It was a very expensive trip. An investment, but well worth it."
And her reaction to the complaints?
This Sept. 10, 2012 image released by Sports Illustrated shows a model being photographed on location in Guilin, China, for the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.(Photo: Valery Gherman, AP)
"I look at it like this," she said. "We pick these locations very specifically. That is because we can show people the world. How much of the population can access areas of the world we can access? We feel beauty exists on all levels as well. The beauty is in the people and the places. We want to immerse you as a viewer in these situations." Of the controversy, she dismissed it, saying, "There's nothing to it."
Morton, who shot her photos in Australia for the mag, defended using locals in the photos, citing the benefit of "travel and tourism." She added, "You wouldn't really think to go on holiday to somewhere so remote as where I was in Australia, so to be able to capture that with beautiful girls and put it out there was a great experience for the locals."
Cracked Upton, who posed in Antarctica: "My only locals were penguins."
Singer added that the special will put it all into context. "In the magazine you get one snapshot. In the special you see how the models and crew interact with the locals in a positive way. They really are part of the process."
Portrait of Emily DiDonato during photo shoot for 'Sports Illustrated' Swimsuit issue, on sale now.(Photo: Kayt Jones, Sports Illustrated)
Oh, and as for Kate and those curves? She addressed them, saying, "I have a personal trainer, and I try and stay healthy and work out as much as possible." And, she added, "My curves are natural. They're not going away not matter how hard I work out."
She also didn't reveal any romantic Valentine's Day plans: "I'm launching my cover of Sports Illustrated in Las Vegas."
And her advice for anyone going to Antarctica is simple: "I would say keep your clothes on. But definitely go there! It's the most beautiful place I've ever been."
"Distasteful." But not racist, not objectifying the impoverished, not treating people like cattle, not favoring the rich and entitled, using helpless citizens to one's own ends? Nothing like that?
Huh, they must all be devoted, avowed, registered Democrats, these models and photographers. After all, no one's hair is on fire over how awful this mistreatment of these people were. Spastic, knee-jerk, overemotional and salty kudos to Jezebel.com for pointing it out, though! (Gag.) This will go down as who cares for the media -- rightfully so.
But could you imagine if this were the Fox News anchors doing a photo shoot with locals the world over? There'd be all kinds of outrage.
Funny how this story, at least, mentioned nothing of whether these locals in the photos were compensated for their time. (They absolutely should have been, dammit.)
- jR
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Does anybody really think the guns Nancy Lanza kept in their Newtown, Conn., house all on their own attracted her son to launch a murderous rampage that claimed the lives of 20 small children and seven adults? Such simplistic nonsense.That is from "Gun Ban Won't Stop Another Sandy Hook Massacre: Let's Have the Hard Conversation," by Nancy Smith. See more at: http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/gun-ban-wont-stop-another-sandy-hook-m...? Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859. via sunshinestatenews.com
What if the answers aren't that simple?
Consider that last year in Norway, a nation with a tight gun-control and licensing program, Anders Breivik methodically gunned down 69 people, mostly teenagers, on the island of Utoya. Again, this didn't happen in the United States of America, where 311 million people own an estimated 200 million guns. It happened in orderly, gun-sparse Norway, where living by the rules is the modern-day path to Valhalla.
What if gun control is the wrong conversation for us to be having?
What if we dealt instead with the harder-to-comprehend realities that affected Adam Lanza's life -- the fact that he lived virtually locked up in a basement room playing violent video games over and over, hypnotized by war. Or that he kept to himself, couldn't look others in the eye, reacted without emotion. Or that he had cut his father out of his life, refused to see him after his parents divorced, when his father began dating another woman. Or that he was consumed with anger because his mother was going to have him committed for treatment.
Instead of more gun control, shouldn't we be talking about where to set the bar when it comes to forcing an individual into treatment –- and whether those caring for people with mental-health issues have enough resources available to head off potential crises? The state of Connecticut didn't do much to help Nancy Lanza. It's a state that makes involuntary treatment difficult because it leans strongly toward supporting the civil liberties of individuals. Let's talk a little more about that.
In his address in Newtown [the Sunday after,] President Obama promised a grieving community "meaningful action ... regardless of the politics."But if enacting more restrictive gun laws is the action he has in mind, it leaves a mountain to climb in light of the Second Amendment and its principle. And more important than that, more gun laws aren't going to prevent another Sandy Hook massacre.
Updated at 3:30 p.m ET
(CBS News) Republican Rep. Todd Akin on Monday apologized for the controversial remarks he made over the weekend about abortion and rape, but he said he has no plans to drop out of the Missouri Senate race despite building pressure from within the GOP.
"What I said was ill-conceived, and it was wrong," Akin said on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's radio show Monday. "I really just want to apologize to those that I've hurt."
Akin's apology came as President Obama suggested the Republican's remarks illustrated the broad differences between Democrats and Republicans on issues like health care and reproductive rights.
"Rape is rape," Mr. Obama told reporters at the daily White House briefing Monday. "And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me."
Mr. Obama added that Akin's remarks underscore "why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
The president acknowledged that his GOP rival Mitt Romney and other Republicans have distanced themselves from Akin's statements. However, he said, "The underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions, or qualifying 'forcible rape' versus 'non-forcible rape' -- those are broader issues....between me and the other party."
The controversy started after Akin, a six-term Missouri conservative now running against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, was asked in a local interview on Sunday whether he would support abortions for women who have been raped.
"It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said in the interview. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said of a rape victim's chances of becoming pregnant.
Romney abortion view overrides Ryan in Akin response
Romney, Scott Brown rebuke Akin's rape comments
Mo. Rep. Todd Akin: Rape rarely leads to pregnancyRomney called the remarks "inexcusable," while some Republican senators like Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called for him to drop out of the Senate race.
Some liberals tried to tie other Republicans to Akin's comments, noting that Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, co-sponsored an abortion-related bill with Akin that would have limited federal funding for abortions to victims of forcible rape," rather than just rape. The FBI's definition of rape is known as "forcible rape," and it is used to distinguish between statutory rape and other kinds of rape.
Huckabee asked Akin whether he was talking about "forcible rape" when he used the term "legitimate rape."
"I was talking about forcible rape, and it was absolutely the wrong word," Akin said.
Akin said he understands that women can become pregnant from rape. "I didn't mean to imply that wasn't the case," he said. "That does happen."
While Akin acknowledged he made a "very, very serious error," he added that he's not dropping out of the Senate race.
"I don't know that I'm the only person in public office who suffered from foot-in-mouth disease," he said. "I feel just as strongly as ever that my background and ability will be a big asset in replacing Claire McCaskill... Just because someone makes a mistake doesn't make them useless."
Later in the day, Akin wrote on Twitter, "I am in this race to win. We need a conservative Senate." His Twitter message also included a link to his fundraising page.
As the Washington Post notes, the Republican Party can't force Akin to drop out of the race, but he could voluntarily resign by 5 p.m. Tuesday, or he could withdraw from the race by court order by Sept. 25.
In spite of Akin's insistence that he'll stay in the race, the pressure Monday continued to build against him. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) told Akin Monday it would no longer financially support his Senate bid if he chose to stay in the race, a GOP source told CBS News.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the NRSC, said in a public statement that Akin's comments were "wrong, offensive, and indefensible," though he stopped short of explicitly calling on him to exit the race.
"I recognize that this is a difficult time for him, but over the next twenty-four hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party, and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service," Cornyn said.
Meanwhile, the Karl Rove-backed super PAC American Crossroads confirmed to CBS News that it is pulling its ads from Missouri. "The act speaks for itself," Crossroads said to CBS regarding its decision to pull its ads.
The editors of the conservative magazine the National Review wrote Monday that it was time for Akin to step aside.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also called Akin's comments "totally inexcusable."
"What he said is just flat wrong in addition to being wildly offensive to any victim of sexual abuse," McConnell said in a statement. "Although Representative Akin has apologized, I believe he should take time with his family to consider whether this statement will prevent him from effectively representing our party in this critical election."
Remember when that master of relevant social commentary, Whoopi Goldberg, said that what Roman Polanski did to a young teenager in the 1970s wasn't "rape rape"? I won't say she is as vital to anyone as this Akin dude, but, really, where was THIS sort of broad shock across the media then?!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57496599-503544/akin-apologizes-for-ra...
Posted via email from Like, Totally Political Dude! - posterous
Remember when that master of relevant social commentary, Whoopi Goldberg, said that what Roman Polanski did to a young teenager in the 1970s wasn't "rape rape"? I won't say she is as vital to anyone as this Akin dude, but, really, where was THIS sort of broad shock across the media then?!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57496599-503544/akin-apologizes-for-ra...
Posted via email from Like, Totally Political Dude! - posterous
... NASA laboratory head James Hansen's anti-democracy rants were published while he was on a November junket in China, but they didn't get much attention until recently. On Jan. 12, the hyperprolific blogger Marc Morano put them on his Climate Depot site, and within hours, the post went viral. In a former life, Mr. Morano was chief global-warming researcher for Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican.Uhh... NASA, fire him, please.
According to [NASA's] Mr. Hansen, compared to China, we are "the barbarians" with a "fossil-money- 'democracy' that now rules the roost," making it impossible to legislate effectively on climate change. Unlike us, the Chinese are enlightened, unfettered by pesky elections. Here's what he blogged on Nov. 24:
"I have the impression that Chinese leadership takes a long view, perhaps because of the long history of their culture, in contrast to the West with its short election cycles. At the same time, China has the capacity to implement policy decisions rapidly. The leaders seem to seek the best technical information and do not brand as a hoax that which is inconvenient."
"Priebus often jokes about the pronunciation of his Greek name. The name is Rhine with a hard 's' at the end and pree-bus. After winning a hard-fought contest, he still pronounced his name carefully for reporters at a hastily convened press conference....
Priebus's mother, Dimitra, said in an interview that her son started volunteering for Republican causes when he was 10 years old by putting signs in people's yards. His father, Roula, was once a union electrician and now works in real estate...."
NYC: Subjects and Verbs as Evil Plot
(The New York Times)
"Even before the Tucson shootings, Jared L. Loughner acted weirdly and darkly in many ways. Nonetheless, for bizarreness, his rants about grammar stand out": http://nyti.ms/hhyNu5
Assange is accused of using his body weight to hold [one woman, Miss A,] down in a sexual manner." ... Here are the charges as reported by the UKPA:
The court heard Assange is accused of using his body weight to hold her down in a sexual manner.
The second charge alleged Assange "sexually molested" Miss A by having sex with her without a condom when it was her "express wish" one should be used.
The third charge claimed Assange "deliberately molested" Miss A on August 18 "in a way designed to violate her sexual integrity". The fourth charge accused Assange of having sex with a second woman, Miss W, on August 17 without a condom while she was asleep at her Stockholm home.
MSNBC Studios - Image via WikipediaOlbermann acknowledged the donations in a statement to Politico, saying he gave the maximum legal donation of $2,400 to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate against Tea Party standard-bearer Rand Paul.
Like most news organizations, NBC News, parent of msnbc TV, prohibits political contributions by its journalists without prior approval of the president. (Msnbc.com, a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft, also has a policy against its journalists contributing to political campaigns.)
Image via WikipediaKrugman wrote another Op-Ed about his favorite subject "1937". The year when the Fed Gov't cut back some spending and the economy faltered. I've disputed this ludicrousness before, stating that if EIGHT years of spending didn't fix the problem, when in the hell is all this spending supposed to work? Let's also not forget that in 1934 the dollar was devalued by 50% and THAT didn't work.
In this particular Op-Ed he goes further, stating "From an economic point of view World War II was, above all, a burst of deficit-financed government spending, on a scale that would never have been approved otherwise. Over the course of the war the federal government borrowed an amount equal to roughly twice the value of G.D.P. in 1940 — the equivalent of roughly $30 trillion today".
Pro-WWII end recession/depression economist LOVE to point out that huge spending on a massive scale ended the Great Depression. I've spoken to many of these people before and asked them EXACTLY when this massive spending ended the Great Depression. There are only two answers: 1) When the war started 2) After the war ended
Let's tackle #1 first (When the war started). These are the scariest people in the world today, because they don't believe in freedom in the least.
Since his election two years ago, Orlando Democrat U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson's fame has multiplied exponentially with every inflammatory remark.
Every time he says something like the Republicans' health care plan is to "die quickly" or that Dick Cheney is a vampire who should "STFU," he becomes a bigger hero to liberals and a bigger target of conservatives. Now there's another addition to the list of Grayson's greatest hits.
During an appearance on the progressive talk-radio "Stephanie Miller Show" on Thursday — part of a regular segment called "Face the Grayson" — the congressman likened those who attended Glenn Beck's rally last week at the Lincoln Memorial to Ku Klux Klan members.
Miller: "The Glenn Beck thing — is that going to have an effect in November? To me, they were, I'm sorry, mostly old, white … mostly McCain-Palin leftovers, weren't they? These aren't new voters, these are people that have always voted Republican."
Grayson: "These are people who were wearing sheets over their heads 25 years ago."
The congressman also repeated one of his recent favorites: "You only have three friends in life: God, your mama, and the Democratic Party."
You can listen to the whole 12-minute, 18-second segment below, if you scroll down on this widget and click on the "Face the Grayson" segment.
UPDATE: The Grayson campaign wanted to respond to, well, Grayson's own comment. So, here's an addition from campaign spokesman Sam Drzymala: "[Grayson opponent] Dan Webster should prove Representative Grayson wrong by rejecting the endorsement of David Barton, a man who has spoken at two neo-Nazi rallies, denies the Holocaust, and has led the effort to rewrite history books with a narrative of hate, fear, and discrimination."
