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Archives for February 2013

Miss America Goes Back To Jersey

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Daily Beast Bipartisan Brunch
After six years, Miss America is returning to her rightful place on the Atlantic City boardwalks.

The Miss America Pagent announced this morning that they’re going back to Jersey and will announce it later today at a live press conference from the historic boardwalks. Annoucned by Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, news of the deal was broken by the AP.

(photo by Bruce Boyajian)

“For decades, the Miss America organization has awarded scholarships to thousands of young women to help further their goals of higher education and achieve their dreams,” said Acting Governor Guadagno. “New Jersey is proud to once again host the Miss America Pageant here in Atlantic City. We are confident that Atlantic City’s famous boardwalk and variety of restaurants, shops and entertainment venues will showcase the city’s vibrancy and attraction to the participants and many visitors that will attend the Miss America Pageant every year.”

“We are so very proud to bring Miss America back to her birthplace in Atlantic City,” said Sam Haskell, III, the Miss America Organization’s chairman of the board. “We are grateful to Governor Christie and his staff for helping make this possible. Throughout the decades, Miss America has evolved into an organization that enables over 12,000 young women to enter and participate in our scholarship program each and every year. Today, Miss America remains an iconic symbol, and our roots have always stayed connected to Atlantic City. Our proud heritage is rich in history, having been named by USA Today as one of the Top Ten pieces of Americana remaining in our great country today.”

“We now look to the future as we prepare for our most exciting television event ever for Miss America with the support of our network partner, ABC,” said Art McMaster, MAO’s president and CEO. “The return to Atlantic City will allow us to showcase our Miss America events in the place where it all began almost 93 years ago.”

“Miss America is as much a part of Atlantic City as the beach and Boardwalk,” said Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson. “It is great to see this event come back home. It could not have happened without the leadership of Acting Governor Kim Guadagno.”

“I cannot think of a better way to reintroduce the country to Atlantic City,” said John Palmieri, executive director of the Casino Reinvestment and Development Authority. “The return of Miss America to Atlantic City is indicative of the tremendous progress CRDA and its partners are making in revitalizing the city.”

Board action by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) and the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority (ACCVA) is expected later this month to finalize the multi-year agreement that brings Miss America back to Atlantic City. The CRDA, ACCVA, and the Atlantic City Alliance (ACA) all played key roles in forging the agreement that will attract even more tourists from around the world to America’s premiere gaming and vacation destination.

Since taking Office, Governor Christie has taken strategic, comprehensive efforts to ensure New Jersey continues to be a leading destination for sports and entertainment events. The Governor’s actions will result in hundreds of millions of dollars in economic growth benefiting businesses – large and small – throughout New Jersey. Additionally, numerous concerts, tournaments and events are making New Jersey a must-stop venue for sports and entertainment.

The Slurp Heard Around the SOTU

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Marco Rubio stole the entire show after President Obama gave an unanimously praised speech at the State of the Union. For the fifth time, the president remained on record but with a far sterner message to congress during and after his speech.

But before we go back to Obama, let’s focus on Senator Rubio. His “Watergate” broke out over Twitter:

On YouTube:

and the same joke repeated ad naseum. Despite President Obama’s repeated plea for a vote for victims of gun violence, for Sandy Hook and for those that struggle to vote–like 102-year old Desiline Victor–it would be Rubio who would capture the Internet’s attention. But that comes after a groundbreaking number of Tweets Per Minute (TPM) according to the official Twitter Blog.

They even provided a timeline in handy graph form:

But don’t think Obama got away without a fist-bump of his own. Over the closing minutes, as Obama went through the Capitol,he could be heard encouraging Representatives and Senators that everything “deserves a vote,” in calling back to his address.

Worth Reading Into The First Lady's SOTU Guests?

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First Family
It’s a valid point, but have the guests of Michelle Obama revealed the skeleton for tonight’s State of the Union? Traditionally Obama’s last four SOTU speeches have touched on gun control, the economy, immigration and climate change. But that was then and this could be a “congressional cattle prod” according to Politico. The continuing assault from President Obama’s inaugural will likely go on the offensive and stick to his previous points based on FLOTUS’ guests. The address is scheduled to focus on the middle class over the president’s first term, but what else could we gleam from those attending–aside from The Motor City Mad Man.

A rare first appearence involves The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, marks the first time that the hardware developer has set foot inside the Capitol notorious for being pro-PC. It’s a silly joke, but does Cook’s appearence give credit to the production move–even with Foxconn–back to the United States? There’s also a student under the DREAM act, the parents of the tragically murdered Hadiya Pendleton who performed at the Inaugural, small business owners, a First Grade Teacher from Sandy Hook and a 102-year old naturalized citizen that voted in the 2012 election.

The crowd is sure to be on their toes as Obama unveils his plan for the next year.

The full list is below.

[Read more…]

Navid Negahban and a Cafe Milano Coincidence

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Navid Negahban ,who played Abu Nazir on Showtime’s “Homeland,” returns to Cafe Milano even if he didn’t realize it. Who said people don’t return to the scene of the crime? The actor known for his previous roles in the 2009 film “The Stoning of Soraya M.” Negahban was being honored at a private dinner last night featuring CNN’s Jake Tapper and wife Jen, Franco Nuschese,Eve and Peter O’Toole and Glover Park Group’s Joe Lockhart among others.

When told not only that the dinner spot was the same one that was used in the season two premiere featuring Congressman Brody (Damian Lewis) finding out his cover might be blown along with President Obama followed the second season on the campaign trail, Negahban was floored.

Photos from Cafe Milano's Inaugural Bash

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In case you were with us during Inauguration Day, Cafe Milano was still in full swing on Monday after Sunday’s Bipartisan Brunch. Hosted by
Robert Johnson (The RJL Companies), Gina Adams (FedEx) and Milano’s own Franco Nuschese. The Hill mentioned the event in their wrap-up of Inaugural activity. Georgetown Dish was there to hear Franco give a few Inaugural words to the packed room:

“Earlier today, we heard President Obama’s soaring words of inspiration. We now look hopefully for the most strident of the election rhetoric to fade and for all of our leaders of both parties to join in maximizing the greatness and opportunities of our country.”

Check out the slideshow above to see who else was at the Georgetown soiree.