Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalTOM TOMORROW: 2015 The Year In Crazy - BOTH PARTS 1 & 2!
DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/28/1461240/-Cartoon-Year-in-review-part-two
PART 1:
https://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/21/1461238/-Cartoon-Year-in-review-part-one
Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotter Who Played Basketball and Pranks With Virtuosity, Dies at 83
Source: New York Times
Meadowlark Lemon, Harlem Globetrotter Who Played Basketball and Pranks With Virtuosity, Dies at 83
By BRUCE WEBER
DECEMBER 28, 2015
Meadowlark Lemon, whose halfcourt hook shots, no-look behind-the-back passes and vivid clowning were marquee features of the feel-good traveling basketball show known as the Harlem Globetrotters for nearly a quarter-century, died on Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lived. He was 83.
The death was confirmed by his wife, Cynthia Lemon.
A gifted athlete with an entertainer’s hunger for the spotlight, Lemon, who dreamed of playing for the Globetrotters as a boy in North Carolina, joined the team in 1954, not long after leaving the Army. Within a few years, he had assumed the central role of showman, taking over from Reece Tatum, whom everyone called Goose, the Trotters’ long-reigning clown prince. Tatum was a superb ballplayer whose on-court gags — or reams, as the players called them — had established the team’s reputation for laugh-inducing wizardry at a championship level.
This was a time, however, when the Trotters were known not merely for their comedy routines and basketball legerdemain; they were also a formidable competitive team. Their victory over the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 was instrumental in integrating the National Basketball Association, and a decade later their owner, Abe Saperstein, signed a 7-footer out of the University of Kansas to a one-year contract before he was eligible for the N.B.A.: Wilt Chamberlain.
By then, Lemon, who was 6 feet 3 inches and slender, was the team’s leading light, such a star that he played center while Chamberlain played guard.
Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/sports/basketball/meadowlark-lemon-harlem-globetrotter-who-played-basketball-and-pranks-with-virtuosity-dies-at-83.html
Michael Moore on Facebook: 'Today I Went and Stood in Front of Trump Tower and Held a Sign...'
https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/?fref=nfMichael Moore
Public Figure · 1,281,668 Likes · 40 mins ·
Today I went & stood in front of Trump Tower & held a sign until the police came. Then I went home & wrote Donald a letter. Here it is:
Dear Donald Trump:
You may remember (you do, after all, have a "perfect memory!"
, that we met back in November of 1998 in the green room of a talk show where we were both scheduled to appear one afternoon. But just before going on, I was pulled aside by a producer from the show who said that you were "nervous" about being on the set with me. She said you didn't want to be "ripped apart" and you wanted to be reassured I wouldn't "go after you."
"Does he think I'm going to tackle him and put him in a choke hold?" I asked, bewildered.
"No," the producer replied, "he just seems all jittery about you."
"Huh. I've never met the guy. There's no reason for him to be scared," I said. "I really don't know much about him other than he seems to like his name on stuff. I'll talk to him if you want me to."
And so, as you may remember, I did. I went up and introduced myself to you. "The producer says you're worried I might say or do something to you during the show. Hey, no offense, but I barely know who you are. I'm from Michigan. Please don't worry -- we're gonna get along just fine!"
You seemed relieved, then leaned in and said to me, "I just didn't want any trouble out there and I just wanted to make sure that, you know, you and I got along. That you weren't going to pick on me for something ridiculous."
"Pick on" you? I thought, where are we, in 3rd grade? I was struck by how you, a self-described tough guy from Queens, seemed like such a fraidey-cat.
You and I went on to do the show. Nothing untoward happened between us. I didn't pull on your hair, didn't put gum on your seat. "What a wuss," was all I remember thinking as I left the set.
And now, here we are in 2015 and, like many other angry white guys, you are frightened by a bogeyman who is out to get you. That bogeyman, in your mind, are all Muslims. Not just the ones who have killed, but ALL MUSLIMS.
Fortunately, Donald, you and your supporters no longer look like what America actually is today. We are not a country of angry white guys. Here's a statistic that is going to make your hair spin: Eighty-one percent of the electorate who will pick the president next year are either female, people of color, or young people between the ages of 18 and 35. In other words, not you. And not the people who want you leading their country.
So, in desperation and insanity, you call for a ban on all Muslims entering this country. I was raised to believe that we are all each other's brother and sister, regardless of race, creed or color. That means if you want to ban Muslims, you are first going to have to ban me. And everyone else.
We are all Muslim.
Just as we are all Mexican, we are all Catholic and Jewish and white and black and every shade in between. We are all children of God (or nature or whatever you believe in), part of the human family, and nothing you say or do can change that fact one iota. If you don't like living by these American rules, then you need to go to the time-out room in any one of your Towers, sit there, and think about what you've said.
And then leave the rest of us alone so we can elect a real president who is both compassionate and strong -- at least strong enough not to be all whiny and scared of some guy in a ballcap from Michigan sitting next to him on a talk show couch. You're not so tough, Donny, and I'm glad I got to see the real you up close and personal all those years ago.
We are all Muslim. Deal with it.
All my best,
Michael Moore
P.S. I'm asking everyone who reads this letter to go here (http://michaelmoore.com/wearellmuslim), and sign the following statement: "WE ARE ALL MUSLIM" -- and then send post a photo of yourself holding a homemade sign saying "WE ARE ALL MUSLIM" on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram using the hashtag #?WeAreAllMuslim. I will post all the photos on my site and send them to you, Mr. Trump. Feel free to join us.
P.P.S. - To sign my statement for #WeAreAllMuslim, go here on my website: http://michaelmoore.com/weareallmuslim
Tyrangiel on Twitter: This debate is to foreign policy...
“I have never, ever seen a person running for president come through here. Not one time.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/09/3729452/bernie-baltimore/POLITICS
Bernie Sanders Visits Site Of Freddie Gray’s Murder While Officer Stands Trial
BY ALICE OLLSTEIN DEC 9, 2015 8:00 AM
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — Until Tuesday, 49-year-old Mike Williams had never seen a presidential candidate visit Sandtown-Winchester — the impoverished Baltimore neighborhood where police killed 25-year-old Freddie Gray this past April. As Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders passed by, surrounded by local African American pastors and tailed by dozens of reporters, Williams told ThinkProgress he was impressed.
“I have never, ever seen a person running for president come through here. Not one time,” he said. “At first, I wondered if he is just trying to get the black voter. But I did some research and found out he fought a lot for civil rights, and even marched at one time with Martin Luther King. I never knew that. And in his speeches, he says, ‘Yes, black lives do matter.'”
Williams, a neighbor and friend of Freddie Gray, said he wanted Sanders to see the exact spot where the young man suffered a fatal spine injury in police custody. “That was some foul stuff they did to my man,” he said. “But I was always taught that everything happens for a reason. So it’s sad he had such a short life but the good side is that he made a big impact, not only in Baltimore but all over the country.”
- snip -
Pausing before the mural, Sanders said he found the depth of poverty he witnessed “stunning.” “We are less than an hour away from the White House and the United States Congress,” he said. “It is stunning to understand that we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and every year we are seeing more and more millionaires and billionaires, but in communities like this, we are seeing kids dropping out of school, living in dilapidated housing. It is time to transform our national priorities.”
- snip -
“A few blocks from where Jane and I live, there’s a very nice grocery store. We buy good quality food at a reasonable price. You don’t have that here. The prices people in this community are paying are substantially higher. And I can put my money in a bank, where I earn interest. I can cash a check without paying 15, 20 or 50 percent. There aren’t any banks in this community. So it seems like it’s very expensive to be poor.”
The data back up Sanders’ observation. A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that stores in lower-income neighborhoods charge higher prices for food, driving families to purchase lower quality items. Food purchased at convenience and corner stores — which are more common in poor neighborhoods — can be 20 percent more expensive than the same item in a grocery store.
MORE AT LINK
Bernie Sanders Just Now on Facebook: "I'll Tell You What Does Worry Me..."
What we have got to do immediately is to say that racism and xenophobia are totally unacceptable and we will stand with Muslims and undocumented people in this country. We can't allow racism and xenophobia to gain traction.
On NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw Blasts Trump's "Dangerous Proposal" To Ban Muslims
http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/12/08/nbc-veteran-journalist-tom-brokaw-blasts-trumps/207358NBC Veteran Journalist Tom Brokaw Blasts Trump's "Dangerous Proposal" To Ban Muslims
Brokaw: "In My Lifetime Alone, We Have Been Witness To The Consequences Of Paranoia Overriding Reason": Japanese Interment, Nazi Germany, And McCarthy's Anti-Communist Witch Hunt
VIDEO AT LINK
››› December 8, 2015 8:25 PM EST ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF
From the December 8 edition of NBC's NBC Nightly News:
LESTER HOLT (HOST): Finally tonight, we return to our lead story, the uproar over Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims from entering this country. In the heat of the political moment,replete with examples of fear and intolerance take hold and an entire category of people is marginalized. Tom Brokaw offers reflections now on the hard lessons of the past.
TOM BROKAW: Donald Trump's promise to ban all Muslims from coming to America is more, much more than a shouted campaign provocation. Trump's statement, even in this season of extremes, is a dangerous proposal that overrides history, the law and the foundation of America itself. In my lifetime alone, we have been witness to the consequences of paranoia overriding reason. During WWII, law-abiding Japanese-American citizens were herded into remote internment camps, losing their jobs, businesses, and social standing, while all Japanese-American division fought heroically in Europe. At the same time in Germany, a regime that declared war on its own citizens if they were Jewish. And Germany paid the ultimate price. Defeat and history's condemnation. But after the war, America still had to learn about demagoguery the hard way. Senator Joe McCarthy's reckless anti-communist witch hunt, making ever more outrageous claims, damaging reputations, until one day--
[...]
All of that while African-Americans whose ancestors came here as slaves were treated as second or even third class citizens in uniform and out. Yes, the jihadists are radical Muslims, but they are a minority in a world with a billion and a half Muslims. Even so, defeating ISIS will be long, hard, and expensive. Perhaps even more so now, because ISIS is likely to use Donald Trump's statements as a recruiting tool. Kareem Khan, a Muslim, responded to a different kind of recruiting, 9/11. An American citizen, he joined the American army to show that not all Muslims are fanatics. He was killed in Iraq in 2007 by an IED, just 20 years old. Mr. Trump cannot exclude him from America. He has a permanent home here, in section 60, at Arlington National Cemetery.
TOM TOMORROW: Well, Here We Are Again...
DAILY KOS LINK: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/7/1457294/-Cartoon-Here-we-are-again
ISIS Speaks Out on San Bernardino Shooting (Calls Them 'Supporters')
Source: CBS News
ISIS Speaks Out on San Bernardino Shooting
Dec 5, 2015 7:00 AM EST
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's official radio station has aired a statement saying the mass shooting in California was carried out by two "supporters" of the extremist group.
While praising the attack, the group stopped short of claiming responsibility for it. The Al-Bayan report Saturday echoed a claim carried Friday by the ISIS-affiliated Aamaq news agency.
The radio report did not refer to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik as actual members of ISIS. Militants affiliated with ISIS who carry out attacks are commonly referred to in the group's propaganda as "lions," ''fighters" or "mujahedeen."
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/san-bernardino-shooting-isis-tashfeen-malik-pledge-allegiance/
Female San Bernardino shooting suspect ID'd as Tashfeen Malik, officials confirm
Source: CBS News
@CBSNews: NEW: Female #SanBernardino shooting suspect ID'd as Tashfeen Malik, officials confirm https://t.co/rT69aVLfyH/s/XI7z https://t.co/gtMXKkQGUG/s/enpT
@CBSNews: RT @CBSNLive: 2 suspects killed in officer shootout were married, had 6-month-old, @DavidBegnaud reports https://t.co/HZ3UYtYG95/s/LHba https://t.co/8H32WrzVrC/s/rZDs
@sbcountysheriff: Syed Rizwan Farook was a San Bernardino County employee. The relationship between the two susp. not confirmed. Could be wife, gf etc.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/live/
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