March 19, 2015 archive

2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Round of 64 Day 1 Evening

Meta note- The Razorbacks’ site is a useless piece of crap!  Video (none for the Tournament of course) and no schedule.

There are others that are difficult (looking at you Harvard and you NC State) but at least it’s there somewhere.  I hope you and your non-standard impossible to find anything IT crew get booted quickly you losers!

This Evening’s Matchups-

Time Channel Seed Team Record Seed Team Record Region
6:50 pm TBS 1 Villanova 32-2 16 Lafayette 20-12 East
7:10 pm CBS 8 Cincinnati 22-10 9 Purdue 21-12 Mid-West
7:20 pm TNT 4 North Carolina 24-11 13 Harvard 22-7 West
7:27 pm CBS 5 Utah 24-8 12 Steph. F. Austin 29-4 South
9:20 pm TBS 8 NC State 20-13 9 LSU 22-10 East
9:40 pm CBS 1 Kentucky 34-0 16 Hampton 17-17 Mid-West
9:50 pm TNT 5 Arkansas 26-8 12 Wofford 28-6 West
9:57 pm True 4 Georgetown 21-10 13 Eastern Wash. 26-8 South

A Conversation with Cornel West

Activist and author, Dr. Cornel West discussed the civil rights movement, President Barack Obama, racism and inequality in the United States today with “The Late Show” host David Letterman.

The Corporate Love Affair with Citizens United

A report (pdf) done at Princeton University that was released last year argued that democracy in America has been transformed into an oligarchy with wealthy elites wielding the power. Researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page wrote that this has been a gradual, long term trend predating decisions like Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC making it harder for the public to perceive and even harder to reverse. Those rulings, however, may have sealed the deal.

How Corporations Run Congress: A Talk With Ryan Grim

Richard (RJ) Eskow, Huffington Post

Interview excerpt with Ryan Grim on The Zero Hour

Merriam-Webster’s first definition of “corruption” is “impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle.” Another is “a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct.” Has democracy been corrupted by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision? Has its integrity and virtue been compromised? Does today’s electoral process reflect what the Founders envisioned?

Writing the majority opinion in Citizens United, Justice Anthony Kennedy assured us that this decision would not have a corrupting influence on democracy. “(T)his Court now concludes,” wrote Kennedy, “that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

Avoiding the appearance of corruption, as well as corrupting itself, was essential to the Court’s ruling, since the mere appearance of corruption discourages voters and hampers democracy. For the Court’s reasoning to stand, elected officials must forever remain like Caesar’s wife: above suspicion. Justice Kennedy’s opinion assured us that, even with “independent” spending limits raised, they would.

The Inside Story Of How Citizens United Has Changed Washington Lawmaking

Paul Blumenthal and Ryan Grim, Huffington Post

When Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the deciding vote to gut a century of campaign finance law, he assured the public that the unlimited corporate spending he was ushering in would “not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Because those authorized to give and spend unlimited amounts were legally required to remain independent of the politicians themselves, Kennedy reasoned, there was no cause for concern.

Just five years later, in a development that may be surprising only to Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision is reshaping how, how much and to whom money flows in Washington.

How the flood of money released by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (pdf) has changed elections has been the subject of much discussion, but the decision’s role in allowing that same money to soak the legislative process has largely gone unreported. According to an extensive review of public documents held by the FEC, the U.S. Senate and the Internal Revenue Service, as well as interviews with lobbyists and policymakers, Kennedy’s allegedly independent spending has become increasingly intertwined with lobbying and legislation — the precise appearance of corruption campaign finance laws were meant to curb.

Politically active nonprofits, known as “dark money” groups for their ability to shield the identity of donors, and super PACs, which take unlimited sums of money but must disclose donors, have become dominated by lobbyists and other political operatives with close ties to leaders in Congress. Meanwhile, businesses with issues before Congress are pumping increasingly more money into the lobbyist-connected organizations.

The Supreme Court initially established a narrow definition of corruption in the 1970s, but Citizens United used it to blow open the gates that had been holding back corporate money. The 2010 decision came as the U.S. legislative system had evolved into a near parliamentary system of party-line voting and expansive party networks extending seamlessly from the Capitol to party headquarters to lobbying firms to outside political groups. Most top congressional legislators now have “leadership teams” — informal but internally recognized groups of aides-turned-lobbyists who help raise funds.

Cartnoon

2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Round of 64 Day 1 Afternoon

Some meta notes-

During the Rounds of 64 and 32, especially tomorrow when both the Men and Women have 16 games each, it is very difficult to provide in game updates and I don’t generally try unless it’s of particular interest.

You are free of course to post your own commentary if you wish.

Also during at least the early rounds there will be one consolidated Afternoon and one consolidated Evening diary for the Men’s Tournament and the same for the Women.

I’m going to try and keep up enough that I can provide all the previous day’s results in the Afternoon diary as sometimes teams change between Afternoon and Evening starts.  Until the later rounds they never change days in the two day rotation so if I get behind I’ll slip the results so they appear the same day the team plays next.

The links in the tables take you to the college’s main basketball page and to it’s schedule and record against every team it played during the season.

Enjoy the Tournament!

Last Night’s Results

Score Seed Team Record Score Seed Team Record Region
77 16 North Florida 23 – 12 81 16 * Robert Morris 18 – 17 South
56 11 * Dayton 26 – 8 55 11 Boise State 25 – 9 East

This Afternoon’s Matchups-

Time Channel Seed Team Record Seed Team Record Region
12:15 pm CBS 3 Notre Dame 29 – 5 14 Northeastern 23 – 11 Mid-West
12:40 pm True 3 Iowa State 25 – 8 14 UAB 19 – 15 South
1:40 pm TBS 3 Baylor 24 – 9 14 Georgia State 24 – 9 West
2:10 pm TNT 2 Arizona 31 – 3 15 Texas Southern 22 – 12 West
2:45 pm CBS 6 Butler 22 – 10 11 Texas 20 – 13 Mid-West
3:10 pm True 6 SMU 27 – 6 11 UCLA 20 – 13 South
4:10 pm TBS 6 Xavier 21 – 13 11 Mississippi 21 – 12 West
4:40 pm TBS 7 VCU 26 – 9 10 Ohio State 23 – 10 West

On This Day In History March 19

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

March 19 is the 78th day of the year (79th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 287 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1941, the 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.

The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Formally, they were the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, African Americans in many U.S. states still were subject to racist Jim Crow laws. The American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subject to racial discrimination, both within and outside the army. Despite these adversities, they trained and flew with distinction. Although the 477th Bombardment Group “worked up” on North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat; the Tuskegee 332nd Fighter Group was the only operational unit, first sent overseas as part of Operation Torch, then in action in Sicily and Italy, before being deployed as bomber escorts in Europe where they were particularly successful in their missions.

The Tuskegee Airmen initially were equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks fighter-bomber aircraft, briefly with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June-July 1944), and finally the fighter group acquired the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47’s red, the nickname “Red Tails” was coined. Bomber crews applied a more effusive “Red-Tail Angels” sobriquet.

Background

Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African American had become a U.S. military pilot. In 1917, African-American men had tried to become aerial observers, but were rejected, however, African American Eugene Bullard served as one of the members of the Franco-American Lafayette Escadrille. Nonetheless, he was denied the opportunity to transfer to American military units as a pilot when the other American pilots in the unit were offered the chance. Instead, Bullard returned to infantry duty with the French.

The racially motivated rejections of World War I African-American recruits sparked over two decades of advocacy by African-Americans who wished to enlist and train as military aviators. The effort was led by such prominent civil rights leaders as Walter White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, labor union leader A. Philip Randolph, and Judge William H. Hastie. Finally, on 3 April 1939, Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 was passed by Congress containing an amendment designating funds for training African-American pilots. The War Department managed to deflect the monies into funding civilian flight schools willing to train black Americans.

War Department tradition and policy mandated the segregation of African-Americans into separate military units staffed by white officers, as had been done previously with the 9th Cavalry, 10th Cavalry, 24th Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry Regiment. When the appropriation of funds for aviation training created opportunities for pilot cadets, their numbers diminished the rosters of these older units. A further series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department’s reluctance.

Due to the restrictive nature of selection policies, the situation did not seem promising for African-Americans since, in 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported only 124 African-American pilots in the nation. The exclusionary policies failed dramatically when the Air Corps received an abundance of applications from men who qualified, even under the restrictive requirements. Many of the applicants already had participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, in which the historically black Tuskegee Institute had participated since 1939.

The Breakfast Club (Daft Punk – Get Lucky)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover  we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

 photo 807561379_e6771a7c8e_zps7668d00e.jpg

Breakfast Tune: Daft Punk – Get Lucky – solo banjo by Charles Butler

Today in History

Breakfast News & Blogs Below

The Daily/Nightly Show (Did I mention Basketball?)

Especially during the Rounds of 64 and 32 it’s difficult for me to concentrate on anything else because the set up is tricky.  I try to keep up, but I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire.

Green about the O’Gills

Hey, at least tonight we have a Panel- Bradley Whitford, Kurt Metzger, Alexander Bullock, and Shenaz Treasury (Nightly Show regular).  We still don’t have a clue as to the topic.

C’mon Larry, I’m trying to help you out here.

I will say the show is much funnier now that he’s mostly doing a monologue and a bit before the panel, but they need to be tighter, 3 minutes each tops so you have 8 minutes for the panel and 2 for Keep it 100.

And throw me a bone will yah?

Your Popeye is spot on.  You really ought to do a show in character dare or not.

Continuity

If you can’t make it at Arby’s there’s always CSPAN2

This Week’s Guests-

Kevin Hart is one of the Real Husbands of Hollywood which probably explains why I’ve never heard of him.  He’s probably on to talk about either The Wedding Ringer or the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber.

The real news below.