Wednesday, April 30, 2014

"The Blind Leading the Blind" by Pieter Bruegel's 1568 
By Sean Mahoney, May 1, 2014, The Inquisitr

Donald Sterling has spent the week being figuratively pummeled, disgraced, humiliated, scoffed, derided, shamed, dishonored, tarred, feathered, and run out of town. Or at least out of the NBA.

Said NBA has also put forth a not so polite request for the Los Angeles Clippers owner to pony up $2.5 million dollars for what he was clandestinely recorded saying by his supposed “mistress”.

But not everyone in the media has jumped aboard the Donald Sterling is the worst human being to ever walk the earth “ban” wagon.

In fact, Larry Elder, who hosts an afternoon drive show on KABC 790 in Los Angeles, told TMZ, Donald Sterling is getting “SCREWED” by the NBA, and that it’s actually Magic Johnson who blew the whole Sterling-is-a-racist thing out of proportion.

The African American libertarian, author, and radio personality, Elder, acknowledges Donald Sterling is a “dolt” and that Sterling has long said stupid and racist things, but that the current outcry against Sterling is that of “black and white victicrats” and those in the “racism industry” are making the most of Donald Sterling’s idiocy.

Elder has long railed against the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Al Sharpton, Spike Lee and many other outspoken liberal personalities, generally winning any debate against anyone willing to take him on. Both Bill Maher and Michael Moore choose not to.

Appearing on Fox 11 in L.A. on Tuesday, TMZ says Elder defended Donald Sterling, arguing that the only reason Sterling was taking so much heat is because Magic didn’t keep his cool after the audio was released:

“Magic Johnson could have taken this thing to a nice high level… and he could’ve said, ‘I don’t care what Donald Sterling says,’” Elder said.

What TMZ leaves out, however, in a very Michael Moore-ish fashion, is that Elder started his comments by saying Magic should have acted more like Larry Bird when Isaiah Thomas said that if Bird was black, he’d just be regarded as just another player. Bird’s response when asked what he thought? “I don’t care what he said.” Which is what Elder thinks Magic should’ve said with regard to Sterling’s comments.

Read the full story: www.inquisitr.com


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Luke Rosiak, Dec. 25, 2012, Washingtontimes.com

Nicole Hawkins‘ three daughters have matching glittery boots, but none has the same father. Each has uniquely colored ties in her hair, but none has a dad present in her life.

As another single mother on Sumner Road decked her row-house stoop with Christmas lights and a plastic Santa, Ms. Hawkins recalled that her middle child’s father has never spent a holiday or birthday with her. In her neighborhood in Southeast Washington, 1 in 10 children live with both parents, and 84 percent live with only their mother.

In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or 1 in 3, live without a father, and nearly 5 million live without a mother. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers.

America is awash in poverty, crime, drugs and other problems, but more than perhaps anything else, it all comes down to this, said Vincent DiCaro, vice president of the National Fatherhood Initiative: Deal with absent fathers, and the rest follows.

People “look at a child in need, in poverty or failing in school, and ask, ‘What can we do to help?’ But what we do is ask, ‘Why does that child need help in the first place?’ And the answer is often it’s because [the child lacks] a responsible and involved father,” he said.

Dangerous spiral

The spiral continues each year. Married couples with children have an average income of $80,000, compared with $24,000 for single mothers.

“We have one class that thinks marriage and fatherhood is important, and another which doesn’t, and it’s causing that gap, income inequality, to get wider,” Mr. DiCaro said.

The predilection among men to walk away from their babies is concentrated in the inner cities. In Baltimore, 38 percent of families have two parents, and in St. Louis the portion is 40 percent.

The near-total absence of male role models has ripped a hole the size of half the population in urban areas.

Tiny selfless deeds trickle in to fill that hole as the natural human desire for intimacy is fulfilled: One afternoon last week as a girl hoisted a half-eaten ice cream sandwich high over her pigtailed head, Larry McManus, the father of the girl’s sister, bent down to eat out of her hands as he picked up the girls from school.

“I know dads that say they ain’t their kids. I see dads being disrespectful of the mothers. And I see ones who take other men’s kids to football games because they know their fathers aren’t around,” said Mr. McManus, an ex-felon who said he is “trying to make a lot of changes right now.”

Asked his daughter’s age, he consults with her sister.

“Five. She’s in pre-K,” the girl answered.

“She’s 5,” he echoed. “Mmm, that was good,” he said gently of the ice cream sandwich. “Can I have another bite, please?” 


Read the full story:  www.washingtontimes.com

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By Adam Credo, Apr. 29, 2014, Freebeacon.com

Previously unreleased internal Obama administration emails show that a coordinated effort was made in the days following the Benghazi terror attacks to portray the incident as “rooted in [an] Internet video, and not [in] a broader failure or policy.”

Emails sent by senior White House adviser Ben Rhodes to other top administration officials reveal an effort to insulate President Barack Obama from the attacks that killed four Americans.

Rhodes sent this email to top White House officials such as David Plouffe and Jay Carney just a day before National Security Adviser Susan Rice made her infamous Sunday news show appearances to discuss the attack.

The “goal,” according to these emails, was “to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure or policy.”

Rice came under fierce criticism following her appearances on television after she adhered to these talking points and blamed the attack on a little-watched Internet video.

The newly released internal White House e-mails show that Rice’s orders came from top Obama administration communications officials.


Read the full story:  www.freebeacon.com

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Michael McCann, Apr. 29, 2014, Sportsillustrated.com

In a historic announcement, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has handed Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling a lifetime ban from the NBA, along with issuing the maximum allowable fine of $2.5 million. Of greater significance, Silver has also instructed NBA owners to oust Sterling as owner of the team. The announcement sets the table for an epic legal fight over ownership of the Clippers and the powers of the commissioner.

Legality of Sterling's suspension and fine

Silver has broad authority under the NBA's constitution and bylaws to suspend and fine an owner for conduct detrimental to the NBA. According to Sliver, Sterling admitted it was his voice on the recording in which he made racist remarks. Even if the recording was unlawfully created under California law -- the recording would likely be unlawful if the conversation was confidential and Sterling didn't give consent -- Silver is authorized to punish Sterling based on the recording's impact on the league. It is safe to say that Sterling's comments, which elicited the rebuke of President Barack Obama, have deeply harmed the NBA and its relationship with players, sponsors and fans. Sterling seems to lack a viable argument that his conduct was not seriously detrimental to the NBA.

Sterling is also disadvantaged in challenging the suspension and fine because of how a court would treat such a challenge. A court would review Silver's decision under the deferential "arbitrary and capricious" standard of review. This standard would essentially require Sterling prove that the NBA -- and specifically Silver, acting as the NBA's ultimate arbiter -- failed to follow its own rules in how it investigated Sterling and punished him. For instance, if the NBA failed to authenticate the recording, concealed evidence or not requested a meeting with Sterling, Sterling might have sufficient grounds. Silver's remarks during the press conference, however, suggest all relevant rules and policies were followed. Absent Sterling proving there was a procedural defect of serious importance, Sterling likely has no viable appeal to either the fine or suspension.

ROSENERG: Lifetime ban fitting punishment for Sterling

As a practical effect, the suspension all but excommunicates Sterling from both his team and the NBA. He is forbidden from any contact with players, coaches and staff, and he is barred from attending games or practices. Sterling is also prohibited from participating in league activities. He is now, essentially, in NBA exile.

The fine of $2.5 million may seem inconsequential given that Sterling is worth reportedly $1.9 billion, but it was the highest amount of money permitted by the league's constitution and bylaws. Had Silver issued a higher fine, and justified it on policy or moral grounds, he would have provided Sterling with an opportunity to raise a legal point. Specifically, Sterling might have argued such a penalty is "arbitrary and capricious" because it would not have followed NBA rules. Silver, an attorney, wisely adhered to the rules instead.

Read the full story: www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com


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By Larry Elder, Apr. 24, 2002

Anti-Semitism in America, according to a survey commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League, stands at an all-time low. But alarmingly, the survey found blacks three to four times more likely than non-blacks to be anti-Semitic.

Black Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., urges America to rethink its support of Israel. Reverend Jesse Jackson, who once called Jews “Hymie” and New York City “Hymie-town,” now demands that George Bush ensure the safety of Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat.

Jackson’s acolyte, Al Sharpton, once referred to Jews as “diamond merchants.” In 1991, Sharpton turned the death of a black child in a traffic accident in Brooklyn, involving a Hasidic Jew, into a racial incident. Sharpton led 400 protesters through the Jewish section of Crown Heights. There were four nights of rock- and bottle-throwing, and a young Talmudic scholar was surrounded by a mob shouting, “Kill the Jew,” and was stabbed to death.

The Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan recently likened the “plight” of black Americans to that of the Palestinians, noting blacks “were in the same position.” Farrakhan also exaggerates the Jewish role in slavery, and once called Hitler a “great man” and Judaism a “gutter religion.”

Black Fox News analyst Juan Williams criticizes Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for behaving like a “bull in a china shop.” Former Harvard professor Cornel West criticized his Harvard president and called him the “Ariel Sharon of higher education,” saying, “he struck me very much as a bull in a china shop.”

In the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, there is a bewildering failure on the part of many people, especially blacks, to differentiate firefighter from arsonist. Given the tremendous historical Jewish support for blacks, this insensitivity toward Jews and Israel suggests ignorance and lack of gratitude.

Fact: Jews helped to fund Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. Washington asked Julius Rosenwald – a Jewish trustee of Tuskegee – to help, not only with higher education, but also with Southern black elementary schools. Rosenwald funded the building of 5,300 black schools across the South.

Fact: The black monthly magazine Emerge asked people to assess the following statements: Do blacks complain about racism? Do blacks stick to themselves? Do blacks prefer welfare? Are blacks less ambitious, too loud and pushy, not as hardworking, not as honest, have too much power in the U.S.? In every case, Jews were the least likely of any group to answer “true” to those statements. Jews showed less racism toward blacks than any other group.

Fact: In 1984-85 and 1991, Israel airlifted 20,000 black Ethiopian Jews from persecution and famine in Africa.

Fact: During the 1960s, many white Northerners worked as “freedom fighters,” risking their lives to come to the South and encourage blacks to vote. In 1964, of those whites who went to Mississippi to register blacks to vote, three-quarters were Jews.

Fact: Unlike any other group in America, as Jews become more affluent they do not leave the allegedly “pro-minority” Democratic Party and defect to the “pro-wealthy” Republicans. So despite the growing wealth of Jews and the high-tax policies of Democrats, Jews remain in the party out of a sense of empathy, sensitivity and compassion for those less fortunate.

Fact: Jack Greenberg, a Jewish lawyer, was an important legal strategist in helping the NAACP in Thurgood Marshall’s Brown v. Board of Education case, which struck down the doctrine of separate but equal. (When Greenberg tried to teach a civil rights course at Harvard, students protested, arguing a black man should teach the course!)

Fact: 30 percent of Muslims in America today are black, some embracing the religion in order to reject “Western Civilization, culture and religion.” Many blacks also give their kids Arabic-sounding names. But most blacks don’t know that Arab slavers brought more slaves to South America and to the Middle East than European slavers brought to North America. In “Conquests and Cultures,” Thomas Sowell writes, “By the time the Europeans discovered the Western Hemisphere at the end of the 15th century, Muslim merchants already dominated the slave trade in West Africa, as they did in East Africa and North Africa. The Islamic jihads of the 18th and 19th centuries created new Muslim states in West Africa, which in turn promoted enslavement on a larger scale. Altogether, between 1650 and 1850, at least 5 million slaves were shipped from West Africa alone.” And while slavery ended in the West, says Sowell, “In some Islamic countries in Africa and the Middle East, slavery lasted even longer. Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Sudan continued to hold slaves on past the middle of the 20th century.”

Fact: When Sidney Poitier accepted his honorary award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he rattled off a list of persons who stuck their necks out for his career, many of whom were Jews.

So, to America’s “black leaders,” care to reconsider?

Read the full story:  www.wnd.com


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By IBD Editorials, Apr. 29, 2014

Israel: As appalling as it was to hear Secretary of State John Kerry compare the one Middle East country with Western values to the old South Africa, it should shock no one. It's obvious this administration reviles Israel.

According to the man who 43 years ago this month contemptuously discarded his military decorations onto the steps of the U.S. Capitol, an Israel that stands firm against terrorist Palestinians refusing to recognize its legitimacy will either cease "to be a Jewish state" or become "an apartheid state with second-class citizens."

John Kerry of Swift Boat infamy insisted how "imperative it is to get to the two-state solution" during what he thought were private remarks to the government officials and wonks at the Trilateral Commission. The Daily Beast's Josh Rogin crashed the affair and recorded Kerry's unguarded comments.

First off, let's be brutally honest about two states: There is little chance it will be a solution to anything. It can, in fact, be expected to fan the flames of anti-Israeli fanaticism.

But Kerry and Obama want to preside over some settlement for which they can take credit — then blame the Israelis later when it doesn't work out as advertised.

Second, let's parse this insulting notion of an "Apartheid Israel." Of course, calls for Kerry to resign only elicit laughs within the corridors of the West Wing; it's not as if he called a Muslim country an apartheid state, after all.

Read the full story:  www.news.investors.com


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By Detriot.cbslocal.com, Apr. 29, 2014

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) -On Tuesday, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned for life by the NBA in response to racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation, but what comes next? The other NBA owners need a 75 percent vote to have Donald Sterling removed as owner.

But Detroit News columnist and 97-1 The Ticket co-host Terry Foster wonders if the other owners may be worried about their own skeletons in their closets.

“I think there is a fear … some owners may not … want an investigation, so they want this thing to go away as quickly as possible. The one thing about Donald Sterling, he loves to sue people, so I think the other owners have to be careful, they definitely don’t want things coming out of their closet,” said Foster.

Foster also thinks Clipper coach Doc Rivers and the players are hypocrites because they knew exactly what Sterling was all about when they signed their contracts.

“They knew what he stood for before, don’t be surprised, don’t be outraged because you signed a contract to work for this man and the whole league knew what he was about.”

But now a new opinion is being formed about the NBA commissioner.

“I think that Adam Silver has established himself now as a powerful commissioner,” said Foster. “I always viewed him as a ninety-nine pound weakling, now he’s reached beast mode in my mind.”

Read the full story:  www.detroit.cbslocal.com


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By Breitbart.com, Apr. 30, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy slowed sharply in the first three months of the year as a harsh winter exacted a toll on business activity. The slowdown, while worse than expected, is likely to be temporary as growth rebounds with warmer weather.

Growth slowed to a barely discernible 0.1 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That was the weakest pace since the end of 2012 and was down from a 2.6 percent rate in the previous quarter.

Many economists said the government's first estimate of growth in the January-March quarter was skewed by weak figures early in the quarter. They noted that several sectors — from retail sales to manufacturing output — rebounded in March. That strength should provide momentum for the rest of the year.

And on Friday, economists expect the government to report a solid 200,000-plus job gain for April.

"While quarter one was weak, many measures of sentiment and output improved in March and April, suggesting that the quarter ended better than it began," said Dan Greenhaus, chief investment strategist at global financial services firm BTIG.

Still, the anemic growth last quarter is surely a topic for discussion at the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, which ends Wednesday afternoon.

In its report, the government said consumer spending grew at a 3 percent annual rate last quarter. But that gain was dominated by a 4.4 percent rise in spending on services, reflecting higher utility bills and an expansion in health care spending from provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Spending on goods barely rose. Also dampening growth were a drop in business investment, a rise in the trade deficit and a fall in housing construction.

The scant 0.1 percent growth rate in the gross domestic product, the country's total output of goods and services, was well below the 1.1 percent rise economists had predicted. The last time a quarterly growth rate was so slow was in the final three months of 2012, when it was also 0.1 percent.

Read the full story:  www.breitbart.com


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By Andrew Kaczynski, Apr. 29, 2014, Buzzfeed.com

A Mississippi Democratic Congressman says Clarence Thomas is an “Uncle Tom,” Mitch McConnell is a “racist,” and that Republicans are only anti-big government and anti-Obamacare because President Obama is black. Rep. Bennie Thompson made the comments over the weekend while appearing on a New Nation of Islam radio program.

“I’ve been in Washington. I saw three presidents now. I never saw George Bush treated like this. I never saw Bill Clinton treated like this with such disrespect,” Thompson said. “That Mitch McConnell would have the audacity to tell the president of the United States — not the chief executive, but the commander-in-chief — that ‘I don’t care what you come up with we’re going to be against it.’ Now if that’s not a racist statement I don’t know what is.”




Read the full story:  www.buzzfeed.com

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By Joshua Riddle, Apr. 7, 2014

Will Obama call out his buddy for wearing this? Of course not. Obama is friends with all kinds of people who hate white people. We knew that 6 years ago when Rev. Jeremiah Wright was spewing his hate.

Jay-Z raised eyebrows at the Barclay’s Center last week when he wore a medallion symbolizing the Five Percent Nation.

The Brooklyn-born rapper was sitting court-side at a Nets game on Tuesday with wife Beyonce when he was snapped wearing the controversial symbol.



One of the core tenants of the Five Percent Nation – an off-shoot of the Nation of Islam – is that white people are ‘wicked and inferior’ to black men.

When asked by a reporter whether the medallion is meaningful to him, Jay-Z shrugged and said ‘A little bit’. 


This isn’t the first time that the rapper has been connected to the Five-Percenters.

He was photographed wearing another similar medallion while giving radio interviews for his album Magna Carta Holy Grail last summer.



Read the full story:  www.youngcons.com

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Donald Sterling
By Larry Elder, Apr. 30, 2014

This is absolutely absurd.

The 80-year-old rich, near-$2-billion-net-worth owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, gets set up by his thirty-something mistress/girlfriend. She secretly records him, clearly goading him into saying something incendiary.

What damaging thing does she get him to say? What’s the very, very worse thing she gets him to say? He doesn’t want her to bring her “black friends” to the basketball game, one in particular, Magic Johnson.

Now these “black friends” can attend games without her. Why Sterling even said she could “f--k.“ these friends. Just don’t bring them to my games, and while you’re at it, take their pictures off your social media.

For this the NBA announced a lifetime ban, and the commission recommends that the other owners vote to force Sterling to sell his team. Lifetime ban? Marge Schott, who referred to her “million dollar nigger” player and collected Nazi memorabilia, among other offenses, received multiple suspensions -- not a total ban.

George Steinbrenner, a convicted felon who made illegal donations and who once hired a private detective to dig up dirt on one of his ballplayers, received multiple suspensions -- but not a total ban.

The “racist” Sterling practices his “racism” this way.

For 22 years, Elgin Baylor, a black legendary ex-Laker, served as Sterling’s general manager. True, he refused to give Baylor the money to build a competitive team. But Baylor, not exactly in bondage, stayed and even won NBA Executive of the Year in 2006.

The Clipper’s head coach, Doc Rivers, is a championship-winning black man who came at a price. Their black starting guard earns $18 million this year. And Sterling’s mistress/girlfriend -- the one in question -- is a black Latina.

Regarding Sterling’s exclusion of blacks from games, unless you are a black friend of his girlfriend, you need not worry. If you are, you can go -- just not there with her. Now, you can sleep with her. Just don’t sit with her at the game. Not a bad deal, coming from a “racist.”

Spike Lee said Sterling has the “mentality of a slavemaster.” Sterling’s “slaves” have the sixth highest payroll in the 30-team league, where NBA salaries average about $5 mil. And the massa tells his girlfriend she can “f---“ the slaves, just don’t do it on the plantation. This is the same Lee who said he dislikes interracial couples, who called then-Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., “a card-carrying member of the Klan,” who speculated that the levees in New Orleans during Katina were intentionally breached, and who said of Charlton Heston, president of the NRA, “somebody should shoot him with a .44-caliber Bulldog.”

We get a lecture on race sensitivity from Lee?

The Rev. Al Sharpton, ironically scheduled to headline an NAACP event bestowing Sterling with a lifetime achievement award, condemned Sterling. Sharpton. Sharpton! SHARPTON? Where to start? Falsely accuses a white D.A. of raping a black teen. Calls whites “interlopers” and Jews “diamond merchants.” Caught on FBI surveillance tape attempting to arrange a huge drug deal. Owes million in unpaid taxes. Encouraged riots that resulted in deaths. And that’s just the short list.

Rapper/actor Will Smith, in a rap song, takes a swipe at a certain libertarian host by calling him “Uncle Tom.” Smith owns a piece of the Philadelphia 76ers. Should the NBA launch an investigation into this alleged “hate speech” against a radio host with a differing political point of view?

Of course not. But that’s where this road leads.

I interviewed L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks. Tell me the most offensive thing on the tape, the most, I asked? He said the part where Sterling said that he provided this and that to his players in a demeaning way. Specifically, Sterling said: “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?”

Well, he does. And the checks don’t bounce for either the black or white players.

Okay, Sterling, also the owner of thousands of rental units in Los Angeles, got nailed for his body of work: losing seasons, refusing to pay enough to keep good players; lawsuit by Baylor for wrongful termination and age and race discrimination (Baylor lost); two major settlements with housing authorities for discrimination.

Somehow none of this disqualified Sterling -- until now.

Sterling is not afraid of court. He has nearly $2 billion. He can hire private dicks in every franchise city and dig up -- or extract by set up -- damaging information about a lot of owners, players, executives.

Attention city council: We taxpayers pay your salaries. We provide you with cars, clothes, housing. Have I insulted you?

And why is “sexism” given a back seat to “racism”? Bill Maher owns a piece of the NY Mets. He called Palin a “c--t,” Michelle Bachman a “dumb t--t” and made a joke about Palin’s son who has Down Syndrome. Why is that okay? Because he’s a comedian. Yes, one who appears on news shows, and whose opinion people take seriously.

Imagine a hidden mic in the kitchen of some foul-mouthed comic who uses words like “c--t” in public. Imagine what he says, how he feels, what he thinks in private?

The left railed against the impeachment of Bill Clinton, insisting to this day that Clinton was punished for private behavior, never mind the perjury thing. But the way Sterling was set up, not a problem.

Does Sterling see the hypocrisy and double standard? If so, hell hath no fury like a near multi-billionaire scorned.


Related: TMZ: Donald Sterling: BAN IS COMPLETELY UNFIAR… says Larry Elder


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President Barack Obama
By Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill, Apr. 28, 2014, Washingtonpost.com

Democrats face serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, with President Obama’s approval rating at a new low and a majority of voters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check the president’s agenda, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Obama’s approval rating fell to 41 percent, down from 46 percent through the first three months of the year and the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC News polls. Just 42 percent approve of his handling of the economy, 37 percent approve of how he is handling the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and 34 percent approve of his handling of the situation involving Ukraine and Russia.

Graphic




Obama receives low marks as Democrats face midterm turnout challenge

Obama’s low rating could be a significant drag on Democratic candidates this fall — past elections suggest that when approval ratings are as low as Obama’s, the president’s party is almost certain to suffer at the ballot box in November.

Republicans are favored to maintain control of the House, with the focus now on whether they can take control of the Senate. One key question about November is who will vote. Turnout in midterm elections is always lower than in presidential elections, and at this point, key elements of the Republican coalition — namely white voters and older voters — say they are more certain to cast ballots this fall than are younger voters and minorities, two groups that Democrats and Obama relied on in 2008 and 2012.


Read the full story:  www.washingtonpost.com

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Credit: Eric Seals / Detroit Free Press
By Chris Christoff, Apr. 29, 2014, Bloomberg.com

Even as bankrupt Detroit’s residents have resorted to gunning down neighborhood burglars, its police await money for patrol cars, radios, armored vests and modern computers.

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr last month pledged $36.2 million for police from a $120 million loan from Barclays Plc approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Rhodes. Department officials wouldn’t discuss plans for the money, though Orr’s shopping list includes vehicles, station houses and a training facility for the city, which piled up $18 billion of debt by the time it filed for bankruptcy in July.

The money can’t come soon enough for a shrunken department that patrols 139 square miles (360 square kilometers) scarred by blight and poverty with decade-old cruisers. Although crime is down under new Police Chief James Craig, attacks in recent months have residents on edge and reinforced the city’s image as a danger zone.

“People don’t feel safe,” said Barry Ross, co-founder of Detroit Coalition Against Violence. “The new chief is trying, but the odds seem insurmountable.”

“I’m not saying it’s not possible, but it’s like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro without equipment.”


Read the full story:  www.bloomberg.com

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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

By Joe Newby, Oct. 6, 2012

Rapper Snoop Dogg - also known as Snoop Lion - posted a vulgar and racist list to his Instagram page showing the top ten reasons voters should not select Mitt Romney, TMZ reported Friday.

According to TMZ, the list was "originally created by @DragonflyJonez and was reposted by Snoop yesterday."

"The politically incorrect list refers to Romney as a 'white n****' who looks like he 'says n****' all the time,” a CBS site said.

Although the rapper did not create the list, CBS said he "took a photo of a notebook with the handwritten lists in two columns."

On one side is a list showing why Americans should not vote for Romney, while the other side shows a list detailing why he thinks voters should select Obama.

"The number one reason cited for not voting for Romney is because 'He a white n****.' Likewise, Obama will receive his vote because 'He a black n****," CBS added.


Read the full story:  www.examiner.com

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Harold Hamm
By Christopher Helman, Apr. 16, 2014, Forbes.com

Harold Hamm has transformed the U.S. oil industry like no one since John D. Rockefeller, while helping to keep domestic prices low — and making himself a $17 billion fortune. The great domestic energy boom, he says, is just beginning.

Two Scotches in, with seats on the floor of Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy CHK +1.11% Arena, Harold Hamm is feeling good. And why not? His hometown Thunder is spending the evening whupping the Philadelphia 76ers. Earlier Hamm announced big bonuses for Continental Resources CLR +3.27% employees, courtesy of record oil production. And a judge’s ruling, revealed that morning, in Hamm’s divorce case suggested the energy tycoon would keep the Continental shares he already owned when he married soon-to-be-ex Sue Ann Hamm 26 years ago. With that chunk of stock, encompassing about $16 billion out of his $16.9 billion fortune, Hamm owns 70% of Continental.

As every wildcatter knows, such is life in the oil patch when you’re on a hot streak. And Hamm’s on perhaps the most epic one in domestic energy history, perhaps save for John D. Rockefeller’s. No one, aside from kings, dictators and post-Soviet kleptocrats, personally owns more black gold–Continental has proved reserves of 1 billion barrels, mostly locked underneath North Dakota. Hamm took the company public in 2007–and shares are up 600% since, as the revolution in horizontal drilling has given America a cheap energy booster shot, fueling factories, keeping a lid on gas prices and adding millions of jobs.

And lest you think anyone with a lease and drilling rig can strike it rich in the middle of the country, crane your neck alongside 68-year-old Hamm’s. “Is he over there?” he asks, peering down the baseline of the basketball court. Yes, Aubrey McClendon, the former CEO of Chesapeake Energy and a part owner of the Thunder, sits in his usual seat.


Read the full story:  www.forbes.com

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Source:  www.mediaite.com

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By myFOXDetroit.com Staff - Apr. 28, 2014

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WJBK) -Jahmel Binion of Madison Heights, Mich. has the rare disorder ectodermal dysplasia, a condition characterized by a reduced ability to sweat, missing teeth and abnormal hair growth.

He tells FOX 2's Randy Wimbley he's been getting teased his whole life, but never thought he'd be bullied by celebrities after posting a "selfie" on social media.

He says people began recognizing him from a picture on Shaquille O'Neal's Instagram account. Former University of Michigan athlete Trey Burke and rapper Waka Flocka Flame are also said to have also joined in on the teasing.

The photo on Shaq's Instagram has been taken down.

Wimbley contacted Shaq via Twitter, officials with Burke's team, Utah Jazz, and Waka Flocka Flame's record label. No one responded.

Binion says this has inspired him to start an anti-bullying campaign on Facebook called 'Hug Don't Judge.'

Read the full story: www.myfoxdetroit.com


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Secretary of State, John Kerry
Photo:  Carolyn Kaster / AP
By Josh Rogin, Apr. 27, 2014, Daily Beast

The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. Jewish leaders are fuming over the comparison.

If there’s no two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state,” Secretary of State John Kerry told a room of influential world leaders in a closed-door meeting Friday.

Senior American officials have rarely, if ever, used the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel, and President Obama has previously rejected the idea that the word should apply to the Jewish state. Kerry's use of the loaded term is already rankling Jewish leaders in America—and it could attract unwanted attention in Israel, as well.

It wasn't the only controversial comment on the Middle East that Kerry made during his remarks to the Trilateral Commission, a recording of which was obtained by The Daily Beast. Kerry also repeated his warning that a failure of Middle East peace talks could lead to a resumption of Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens. He suggested that a change in either the Israeli or Palestinian leadership could make achieving a peace deal more feasible. He lashed out against Israeli settlement-building. And Kerry said that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders share the blame for the current impasse in the talks.

Kerry also said that at some point, he might unveil his own peace deal and tell both sides to “take it or leave it.”

“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens—or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the group of senior officials and experts from the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Japan. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”

According to the 1998 Rome Statute, the “crime of apartheid” is defined as “inhumane acts… committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” The term is most often used in reference to the system of racial segregation and oppression that governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994.

Former president Jimmy Carter came under fire in 2007 for titling his book on Middle East peace Palestine: Peace or Apartheid. Carter has said publicly that his views on Israeli treatment of the Palestinians are a main cause of his poor relationship with President Obama and his lack of current communication with the White House. But Carter explained after publishing the book that he was referring to apartheid-type policies in the West Bank, not Israel proper, and he was not accusing Israel of institutionalized racism.

“Apartheid is a word that is an accurate description of what has been going on in the West Bank, and it’s based on the desire or avarice of a minority of Israelis for Palestinian land,” Carter said.


Read the full story:  www.thedailybeast.com
Source:  L.A. Staples Center, Street Vendor 

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Sen. Ted Cruz
By Sahil Kapur, Apr. 28, 2014, Talkingpointsmemo.com

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday called on John Kerry to resign after the U.S. secretary of state privately told important world leaders that Israel could become "an apartheid state" if it doesn't make peace with the Palestinians soon, as reported by The Daily Beast on Sunday.

In a floor speech, Cruz accused his former Senate colleague of displaying a "shocking lack of sensitivity to the incendiary and damaging nature of his rhetoric."

"Mr. President, it is my belief that Secretary Kerry has thus proven himself unsuitable for his position and that before any further harm is done to our alliance with Israel, he should offer President Obama his resignation and the President should accept it," said Cruz, who was one of just 3 senators who voted against Kerry's confirmation to his post last year.

The conservative firebrand's remarks came on the same day that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), the only Jewish Republican in Congress, called on Kerry to apologize to Israelis and their government.

In a statement provided to TPM, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki explained his remarks about Israel and the Mid-East peace process, which is a high priority for Kerry.


Read the full story:  www.talkingpointsmemo.com

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By David Gianatasio, March 2, 2011, Adweek.com

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is being taken to the woodshed for celebrating Black History Month during the team's home game tonight against Houston Rockets. February is Black History Month. You'll notice it's now March. But given Sterling's standing as a poster boy for racial intolerance and bigotry, I'm amazed he missed it by only two days. By all accounts, this meathead is about as racially progressive as Archie Bunker. 

This is a guy who paid $2.73 million in 2009 to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed he discriminated against blacks and Hispanics when renting apartments in L.A. He had settled a similar action six years earlier, and allegations of his racially demeaning remarks are legion. Plus, Sterling is an equal opportunity jerkwad whose record with women also stinks. He's been sued at least twice for sexual harassment; he allegedly solicited "hostesses" for private parties (one called working for him "dehumanizing); and he gave testimony in 2003 that he regularly paid a woman named Alexandra Castro $500 for sex, explaining, "If you are having sex with a woman you are paying for, you always call her honey because you can't remember her name." What a charmer. March, by the way, is Women's History Month. Sterling probably has a celebration planned for April.

Source:  www.adweek.com

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Monday, April 28, 2014

Eric Miller / Source:  Tmz.com
By TMZ Staff, Apr. 28, 2014

Donald Sterling's son-in-law, Director of Basketball Administration for the Clippers who helps run the day-to-day operation of the team, tells TMZ Sports what his father-in-law did is ignorant and racist ... and if that costs him his job ... so be it.

Here are the words of his son-in-law Eric Miller:

"I find the statements and representations made by the Clippers' team owner to be deplorable and disgusting. There is no room in sports or society in general, for racism."

Miller goes on: "I pledge my full support for the wonderful players, coaches and staff members of the Clippers organization. I have complete faith that Commissioner Silver will deal with this matter swiftly and severely."

And then Miller says, "If these comments should happen to cost me my employment with the team, it is but a small price to pay to speak out against ignorance and racism."

Donald Sterling's daughter, Joanna Sterling Miller -- who is married to Eric -- says, "I am devastated and saddened by the cruel and insensitive comments expressed in these audio tapes."

Source: www.tmz.com


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