White House Responds to Jay-Z's 'Open Letter' Obama Lyrics

Jay-Z's new song "Open Letter" a response to criticism over his and Beyonce's trip to Cuba, has racked up nearly 500,000 listens in just a few hours. Now we know that some of those plays came from the White House and the reporters that cover it.

During a White House press briefing earlier today, Politico reporter Donovan Slack asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney whether PresidentObama gave Jay-Z and Beyoncé clearance for their travel, based off a lyric from the rapper's just-released song "Open Letter."

After reciting the lyric (“I turned Havana into Atlanta... Boy from the hood/ I got White House clearance... Obama said, 'Chill you gonna get me impeached/ You don’t need this shit anyway, chill with me on the beach'"), Slack asked Carney if Obama did indeed give Jay-Z clearance.

Carney brushed off the question with sarcasm: "I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury... because Treasury offers and gives licenses for travel, as you know, and the White House has nothing to do with it."

"I am absolutely saying that the White house from the President on down had nothing to do with anybody's travel to Cuba that is something that Treasury handles.," he continued.

And if Carney didn't make himself clear before, he shut down the conversation by denying White House approval straight forward.

"It's a song, Donovan. The President did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip."

Following the presser, Slack tweeted some suggestions for words that rhyme with Treasury.

Source: billboard

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Rehtaeh Parsons Suicide

A Canadian minister of justice is seeking answers in the investigation into the alleged rape by four teenagers of Nova Scotian teen Rehtaeh Parsons, who hanged herself last week after what her mother says was months of bullying.

RehtaehParsons, 17, was taken off life-support Sunday on her mother authorization after she hanged herself at home in Cole Harbour last week. Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry said Tuesday that he hopes to meet with Parsons' mother, Leah, to "discuss her experience with the justice system." Landry has been reviewing details of the case and consulting with officials, according to a statement.

"I know that law enforcement and the public prosecution service do their best, every day, to administer and enforce the law," Landry said. "I am committed to exploring the mechanisms that exist to review the actions of all relevant authorities to ensure the system is always working to the best of its ability, in pursuit of justice."

In a lengthy post on a Facebook tribute page to her daughter, Leah Parsons outlined what she says led to her daughter's suicide. In November 2011, Parsons said, Rehtaeh went with a friend to another's home, where she was raped by four teenage boys.

"One of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh's school and community, where it quickly went viral," Parsons wrote. "Because the boys already had a 'slut' story, the victim of the rape Rehtaeh was considered a SLUT." Read more..

Source: abcnews

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'Ready for Love': Why didn't NBC's dating Franken-show hit?

Though it benefited from both heavy promotion and having The Voice as a lead-in, the Peacock’s new dating show Ready for Love seems fairly dead on arrival. Its two-hour series premiere was the lowest-rated program in both the 9 and 10 p.m. time slots last night, earning just 3.8 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49. (To be fair, the show did beat Smash‘s last-Tuesday episode, which garnered 3.0 million viewers and a .9 demo rating.)

This makes Ready for Love the latest example of a truth that broadcast networks — especially NBC — may be reluctant to admit: Copying The Voice‘s format just doesn’t seem to work.  ABC tried with the little-watched Duets, which nicked its predecessor’s “mentors” gimmick, and The Taste, which built a show around a series of blind taste-tests; Fox gave it a whirl with the little-loved dating series TheChoice;NBC itself first tried to cannibalize its biggest ratings success with Fashion Star, a competition now relegated to Fridays. It’s not enough to simply feature a panel of expert mentors (Ready for Love enlists a team of three professional matchmakers) and a judging process that’s at least partially blind (male contestants initially choose women without getting to see them): Those experts have to have chemistry, and those contestants have to be captivating enough to hold our interest even after the metaphorical chairs turn around.

Ready for Love, though, is more than just an unholy mashup of The Bachelor and TheVoice. The fingerprints of several successful franchises can be seen smudging its surface: The shiny, shiny set and presence of a live audience recall game shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Deal or No Deal. Contestants get interrogated by their “mentors” while sitting together onstage like a group of reunited Real Housewives. Tough-talking matchmaker Tracy McMillan, while entertaining, may as well have been assembled from stray bits of Simon Cowell and JillianMichaels’ DNA. Read More..

Source: popwatch

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BLT Egg Wrap

Ingredients 

1 slice chicken or turkey bacon , cooked 

1 egg

¼ tsp ( 1 ml) onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small low-fat flour tortilla ( 2 g fat)

2 tsp ( 10 ml) fat-free mayonnaise

Leaf lettuce

2 tbsp (30 ml) diced tomato

Directions

Cook the chicken or turkey bacon in non-stick skillet over medium heat or in microwave until
crisp; fold in half and set aside. 

Wipe skillet clean. Whisk together egg, onion powder, salt and pepper in small bowl.

Pour mixture into skillet; cook, stirring slightly, over medium heat.

 Asmixture begins to set, gently move spatula across bottom and sides of skillet to form large, softcurds.

 Cook until eggs are thickened and no visible liquid egg remains, but are still moist.

Spread tortilla with mayonnaise.

Place lettuce on top; add chicken or turkey bacon, egg and tomato.

Fold, wrap and serve.

Source: fooddaycanada

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Kimbap Recipe

Ingredients:

• Dried seaweed (nori)- 4 sheets
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp salt
  
  
  TRADITIONAL FILLINGS
  
  
• 1 carrot, julienned
• cucumber, cut into long strips
• 2 eggs
• beef (bulgogi)
• 1/2 pound of spinach, parboiled
• pickled radish, cut into strips
• imitation crab (optional)
• fishcake (optional)
  
  
  ALTERNATE POPULAR FILLING SUGGESTIONS
  
  
• smoked salmon and cream cheese
• kimchi and cheese
• spam, mayo, and veggies
• ham and cheese
• tuna salad with romaine lettuce and cheese
• fresh or seasoned vegetables for vegetarians

Preparation:

1. When rice is almost cooled, mix with sesame oil and salt.
2. Stir fry carrots briefly with a dash of salt.
3. Stir fry cucumber with a dash of salt.
4. Whisk eggs until evenly yellow and fry into flat omelet.
5. Cut cooked egg into long strips.
6. Cook bulgogi according to recipe directions.
7. Using a bamboo sushi roller or a piece of tin foil, lay the dried seaweed shiny side down.
8. Spread about ½ cup of rice onto 2/3 of the seaweed, leaving the top 1/3 bare (if you moisten your fingers or a spoon to pat down the rice, you'll get less of a sticky mess).
9. Lay the first ingredient down around 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the seaweed.
10. Lay the other fillings down on top.
11. Roll from the bottom (as if you're rolling a sleeping bag), pressing down to make the fillings stay in.
12. As you continue to roll, pull the whole thing down towards the end of the bamboo mat.
13. Spread a tiny dab of water along the top seam to hold the roll together.
14. Set aside and continue with other seaweed sheets.
15. Cut each roll into 7-8 pieces.

Source: koreanfood

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Crews to Raze Florida Home Over Sinkhole: Man Missing

Crews planned to begin demolishing a Florida home Sunday that is perched over a huge sinkhole, after deeming it too dangerous to keep searching for the man swallowed up from his bedroom.

The search for Jeff Bush, 37, was called off Saturday and demolition equipment was seen moving into position Sunday. The 20-foot-wide opening of the sinkhole is almost completely covered by the house and rescuers feared it would collapse on them. Two neighboring homes were evacuated as a precaution.

Heavy equipment, including a vehicle with a big bucket scoop on a long arm, was on the street near the house Sunday morning. Authorities said they expected to start the demolition around 8 a.m. Family members gathered on lawn chairs, bundled up with blankets against unusually chilly weather. Several dozen people milled about within view, including officials and reporters.

Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill disclosed the plan hours earlier to raze the home. "At this point it's really not possible to recover the body," Merrill said, later adding "we're dealing with a very unusual sinkhole."

Jessica Damico, spokeswoman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, said the demolition equipment would be positioned on what was believed to be solid ground and reach onto the property to pull apart the house. The crew was expected to try pulling part of the house away from the sinkhole intact so some of the residents' keepsakes can be retrieved.

Bush was in his bedroom Thursday night in Seffner — a suburb of 8,000 people 15 miles east of downtown Tampa — when the ground opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five others in the house escape unharmed as the earth crumbled.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is conducting the investigation. Det. Larry McKinnon said that sheriff's office and the county medical examiner cannot declare Bush dead if his body is still missing. UnderFlorida law, Bush's family must petition a court to declare him deceased.

Source: absnews

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Marketing method to the March Madness

Marketers see the world differently, this isn't a sports competition, It's a marketing case study How did the NCAA get marketers and so many other apathetic viewers to be an avid consumer of it's product?There's a method to the madness and there are a few lessons a marketers can learn from all of it.

Engagement

The NCAA Tournament engages people like nothing else. You don’t just sit passively and watch the games, though that option is certainly available. You dust off your inner Nostradamus and fill out a bracket with your predictions, watch to see what you got right, and encourage your friends and coworkers to join you in a little friendly competition. And the level of involvement is a choice. You can spend hours researching, or make your picks based on which mascot you think is the cutest. Either method, as March Madness has proved again and again, can be effective.

Competitionand Camaraderie

Although you can fill out a March Madness bracket alone, it’s way more fun when you involve others, especially if there is a pool or prize to be won. It encourages people to bring others in without requiring it. They talk about it, compare results, admire the sports nut’s strategy and laugh at the person who was actually crazy enough to pick Wichita State to go to the Final Four. It’s a light, friendly competition that brings people together around a common interest. That brings me to my next point.

Passion

Even if you don’t like basketball, it still includes something that people care about: their schools. Whether you are rooting for your alma mater or your home state, you always want your team to beat that other team. New programs and ideas need more than one thing to ignite passion in people, which in turn can make them passionate about something they didn’t care about before. March Madness merges sports culture with alumni culture and state pride, which would be harder to accomplish if it weren’t for my next point.

It’s Simple

Unlike fantasy football that, popular as it is, takes a fair amount of commitment and research to participate in, filling out and following an NCAA Tournament bracket is simple and easy. It lowers the barrier of entry for those on the fence about participating, encouraging more people to say, “Why not? I’ll fill out a bracket.” The next thing you know, they are watching the close games, talking about matchups with friends, and quickly and quietly getting hooked. And that makes them want to do it again next year, leading to my last point.

Tradition

Christmas. November.  March Madness. I see so many good ideas that are one-offs. What marketers need to give their consumers is tradition—something their company does every year that they can look forward to. The fun of filling out a bracket and involving your office and friends was an idea that took some time to build in popularity. But now, it would be hard to imagine the NCAA Tournament without it.

The NCAA Tournament isn’t just for watching. It’s for participating. So how does your brand match up?

Source: forbes

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