Sam Seder
A new CBS reality TV show puts families in a moral quandary regarding whether to help themselves or another family with the money contents of a briefcase.
But is the show “poor shaming?” Does the show have a delusional relationship to poverty?
CBS: “CBS this summer will invite a dozen families to open The Briefcase and then decide what to do with its contents — $101,000.”
(Updated article)
Secular Talk
Recently, New York Times columnist Charles Blow quoted the president speaking at Georgetown University about the poor:
“And I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving, got traction,” said the President.
“And, look, it’s still being propagated. I mean, I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu — they will find folks who make me mad. I don’t know where they find them. [Laughter.] They’re like, I don’t want to work, I just want a free Obama phone [laughter]…”
The columnist also criticized Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly for calling poor people “lazy.”
O’Reilly then gave his opinion of Blow’s column on his TV show The O’Reilly Factor.
Below is a quote from Media Matters that was cited by Blow in his column. Media Matters states the quote is from 2004 from O’Reilly’s radio show The Radio Factor.
O’Reilly: “Reagan was not a confrontational guy, didn’t like confrontation, much rather be your pal … doesn’t want to get involved with the really nasty stuff, the tough stuff, and that’s what racial politics is — nasty and tough. … It’s hard to do it because you gotta look people in the eye and tell ’em they’re irresponsible and lazy. And who’s gonna wanna do that? Because that’s what poverty is, ladies and gentlemen.”
Are poor people lazy? What about the “working poor?” Are people who work full-time for low wages lazy? Are there times – during an economic downturn, for example – when people are forced to accept low wages?
Article from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/opinion/charles-blow-the-president-fox-news-the-poor.html?_r=0
The TPP and TTIP conditions have not been released to the public, according to freespeechTV. They have been (mis-)represented in America’s press as “trade” deals, but instead they’re actually about sovereignty, writes Eric Zuesse of The Huffington Post.
They’re about America and the other participating countries giving their democratic sovereignty – on regulation of consumer protection, worker protection, finance, and the environment – over to panels. The panels’ members will be selected by the large international corporations that have been working with President Obama’s Trade Representative for years to create these “trade” treaties, writes Zuesse.
If some corporation “C” under these “trade deals” brings a case to one of those panels and says that country “X” has any regulations regarding the environment, consumer protection, worker protection, or finance, that are stricter than the ones that are set forth in TPP and TTIP, then country X will be assessed to pay a fine to corporation C, for “unfair trade practices” against that corporation.
So, laws in the TPP or TTIP supercede the laws of the U.S. in that regard.
These corporate panels will constitute a new international “government,” with the power to fine countries for exceeding the regulations that are set forth in these international ‘trade’ treaties, writes The Huffington Post.
President Obama’s Trade Representative, Michael Froman, has told the AFL-CIO and U.S. Senators that when countries such as Colombia systematically murder labor-union organizers, it’s not a violation of workers’ rights, and it is nothing that is of concern to the U.S. regarding this country’s international trade policies or enforcement.
On April 22nd, Huffington Post, one of the few U.S. news media to report honestly on these treaties, wrote an article titled “AFL-CIO’s Trumka: USTR Told Us Murder Isn’t A Violation,” and reported that, “Defenders of the White House push for sweeping trade deals argue they include tough enforcement of labor standards. But a top union leader disagreed with such claims Tuesday, revealing that administration officials have said privately that they don’t consider even the killings of labor organizers to be violations of those pacts.”
So, would the U.S. be helpless to change things if a country like Columbia murders union leaders?
This is and will be the low level playing-field that U.S. workers will be competing against in the TPP and TTIP, just as it is already, in the far-smaller NAFTA, according to The Huffington Post.
“Trumka (of the AFL-CIO labor union) said that even after the Obama administration crafted an agreement to tighten labor protections four years ago, some 105 labor organizers have been killed, and more than 1,300 have been threatened with death.” And it looks like under the TPP, there is little that America could do about it.
(Updated article)
MSNBC
#FreeTheNipple activist and founder Lina Esco joins MSNBC’S Krystal Ball and Liz Plank To discuss the contradiction between going shirtless for men and for women.
The topic of Bob Beckel’s absence from The Fox program The Five made its way to The O’Reilly Factor Thursday night when Bill O’Reilly fielded a question from a viewer on his whereabouts.
In response to a viewer named Gloria Caruso from Buffalo, New York who wrote, “I have been trying to find out what happened to Bob Beckel,” O’Reilly said simply, “He had back surgery, Gloria.”
Beckel has not been seen on The Five for more than 9 weeks and gave a similar explanation on Twitter early last month. The Five’s Greg Gutfeld later confirmed the date of Beckel’s surgery on March 26th.
Suicide Squad is a movie based on the DC comic about a band of “supervillains” who are “teamed together by a government agency,” states ign.com. It is scheduled for release on August 5th, 2016.
Actor Jared Leto has previously documented his transformation into the Joker on social media without makeup, but we now might have our first full look at Leto’s take on the iconic villain.
Earlier this month, Suicide Squad director David Ayer tweeted the first look at Leto as the Joker, sporting green hair and striking “The Killing Joke” pose.
A close-up of the actor then appeared last week, adding red lips to the signature hairstyle.
But a recent photo that surfaced on Twitter appears to show Leto holding a photo of himself in full Joker make-up.
Although the picture quality is a little blurry, it is the most in-character image of Leto that has been revealed thus far, states ign.com.
More here:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04/20/suicide-squad-possible-first-look-at-jared-leto-as-the-joker
The first wife of The Beatles’ John Lennon, Cynthia Lennon, recently died at her home in Spain, her family has announced.
A message on her son Julian’s website said she died “following a short but brave battle with cancer.” It also said: “Her son Julian Lennon was at her bedside throughout. The family are thankful for your prayers.”
Cynthia Lennon was born in Blackpool, England on September 10th, 1939. She was 75.
(Updated report)
TYT Network
Wikipedia: “Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American political news correspondent and conservative pundit for the Fox News Channel. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller and formerly co-hosted CNN’s Crossfire and MSNBC’s Tucker.
The Daily Caller is an internet news site. The site has a right-wing agenda, so always double-check for other sources before citing a Daily Caller article.
Fox News states: “Tucker Carlson currently serves as co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend (weekends 6-10AM/ET). He joined FNC in 2009 as a contributor.”
Here, TYT Network discusses a misogynist e-mail exchange exposed at The Daily Caller.
Republicans caved in on funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter of Majority Report discuss whether Democrats are now “showing spine.”
The New York Times:
“The fight over funding the Department of Homeland Security that began with Republicans thundering about a lawless president abusing power to change immigration policy ended with a quiet capitulation Tuesday when the House voted to fund the agency and avert a partial shutdown.”
Joan Jett Loves that she and her band The Blackhearts will be inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame when the ceremonies are in Cleveland, Ohio. Joan and seven others will be in the Rock Hall’s Class of 2015, and they will be inducted into the Hall in ceremonies in Cleveland in April.
“She and the city are intertwined like the fingers of lovers’ hands,” states Cleveland.com.
“Where else should it be?” Jett said in a call to her New York office to discuss her induction into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 18, in Public Hall.
“If I’m going to be inducted, Cleveland is where it should be,” she said of the city and its people, for whom she feels such a connection, according to Cleveland.com.
“I guess I’m like them,” Jett said. “I don’t find Cleveland to be a kind of place that puts on any airs, and I don’t either.”
She and Cleveland have a history. “We played in Cleveland with the Runaways at the Agora Ballroom many times. We found that people seemed to really like us there.
“I have warm feelings about Ohio and rock ‘n’ roll and how they really love it,” she said.
Jett was also in the 1987 movie “Light of Day,” which was filmed in Cleveland at the Euclid Tavern featuring Jett and Michael J. Fox as sibling rockers.
“To do ‘Light of Day’ with Michael J. Fox there was an awesome thing,” Jett said, with a smile. “We got together a band – Michael plays, and we had other instruments, so the actors could get a sense of what it’s like to play in a band. That is a great thing to be able to do that.”
She was asked how it affected her to work in the “man’s world” of Rock & Roll.
“You can’t take anything for granted,” Jett said. “You just have to put your head down and work. Even knowing the female thing has affected it, I can’t be bitching.”
Joan has a tenacity that meant quitting in the face of naysayers and such was just not an option.
“It’s not in my nature to be told what I can do,” Jett said. “If you’re not hurting anybody and you want to play rock ‘n’ roll, well, a lot of people would tell me that girls can’t play guitar. They should be playing Beethoven, not rock ‘n’ roll, because rock ‘n’ roll is sexual, and up till now, girls weren’t allowed to own their sexuality.”
“Before long, I was in it so deep I didn’t want to do anything else,” she said.
But Jett apparently isn’t looking to change careers. “I do still enjoy it,” she said. “The part that feels like a job is the traveling aspect, but getting onstage never feels like a job to me. It’s an honor to be able to do this.”
OK, Fine. 