Randomness: The First Lady reacts as she watches Laura Jarrett and Tony Balkissoon take their vows during their wedding at Valerie Jarrett’s home in Chicago.” June 18, 2025 (Photo by Pete Souza)
• • •
MoooOOOooorning - Happy Sunday!
20
Jul
14
87 Responses to “Early Bird Chat”
Comments are currently closed.
White House.gov
- What They're Saying: 21 New Companies Take the SupplierPay Pledge
- A Toolkit to Help Communities Respond to a Changing Climate
- The President Wraps Up Trip in Burma, Heads to Australia
WH Tumblr
- We just launched a new toolkit to help communities respond to...
- "The affordable health care act will help so many like me. It is...
- “We tentatively read each plan’s offerings, and were very...
OFA
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
The People’s View
- Off-Message: Why Democrats Failed to Ignite Their Base During the 2014 Midterm Elections Trevor LaFauci
- You Mad, Bro? Republicans Flip Out as President Obama Reaches Historic Climate Pact with China Spandan Chakrabarti
- A political system on life support Liberal Librarian
Smartypants
- President Obama has always favored Congressional action
- Post-Policy Punditry
- I Won't Give Up
Greg Sargent
- Happy Hour Roundup
- Poll: American public split on whether to shred Constitution
- Can Republicans shut down the government without actually shutting down the government?
Steve Benen
- Tuesday's Mini-Report, 11.18.14
- The Beltway lays the groundwork for a partisan blame game
- While right pushes for shutdown, GOP leaders scramble
- Mitch McConnell's 'serious look at the science'
- Tuesday's Campaign Round-Up, 11.18.14
WH Flickr
|
Good Sunday Chipsticks…TODers!!!!
I hope everyone has had a good weekend thus far and that you have a phenomenal day today! :-D
Goooooood morning swbluega, have a splendid Sunday!
One of my favorite photos of POTUS and FLOTUS together. Sometimes he looks at her as if he is thinking, “How did I get to be so lucky?!?!?”
The Look of Love
Morning, TOD. Must work 24 hours today to make up for not getting much done during the week. Boss is back in town!
Yikes!!! I was going to say ‘have a great Sunday’, 57, but that sounds unlikely!
I have not been able to get this work done. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve procrastinated for weeks, and now I have no choice. Unfortunately, it requires writing and creativity, and that’s nothing you can fake. And I’m still stalling…….
I am now convinced we are twins who were separated at birth - your experience is the entire story of my life :-)
And here I sit at the computer, panicked because there are not enough hours to get it done, and I’m paralyzed. What can I do?
I’m the last person on earth to ask for wise advice on a situation like this!! But it always helps to get a teency bit done, then you’re up and running and you’ll be fine!
Instead, I’m looking at shelters and dogs…….
Four dogs is way too many, right?
Even though there are the most adorable poodle-yorkie and cocker-poodle mixes that are black and white. My first dog, Rufus was black with a little white, and I’ve wanted that color combination ever since. One of these dogs for adoption looks like my beloved Pilgrim, only he was tan, but the same eyes……
Four dogs is crazy, four dogs is crazy, four dogs is crazy……..
Oh, 57, what a nightmare! Please stay well and keep your spirits up.
Morning Jackie!!
Morning Chips. Hope you and Danny are feeling good today. It’s a hazy, lazy day of summer in our corner of the world.
We’re mighty fine Jackie, thank you! Enjoy your lazy, hazy Sunday!!
Thanks, jackie.
Oh my…57, I can relate….have had to deal with similar situations now and again. :) Take heart and good luck completing everything!
Thanks. It means I’ll be on the computer all day so there will be frequent TOD breaks.
I’m always talking about how seeing PBO getting his baby fix makes me smile. The collage of pictures in a post from yesterday was, as the title said, “heart-warming”.
I have to believe that for the President, being around children generates positive energy that helps to rejuvenate him…to restore some of the inner strength, spirit, and vigor that is surely consumed amidst the onslaught of negativity that he must deal with on a daily basis.
G’morning Chips & TOD!!! Happy Sunday everyone… :)
Gooooood moooooooorning Hopefruit!!!
Morning all. I hope the first couple are together at Camp David and have a chance for some quiet walks. The pressure on him must be so intense, he’s going to need all the moments of solace he can get. If we are outraged by what Russia is doing to the airplane crash site,you can imagine how the president feels and how hard he’s working to make Russia and its thugs cooperate with the international investigation team. And you can imagine how much he’s agonizing over the Palestinian deaths. I hope that behind the scenes Bibi and Putin are feeling the president’s wrath.
James Garner died. One of my earliest crushes.
Me too. :(. Comfort and peace to his family.
Thanks 57
Missed hearing the news about James Garner. I loved him in The Great Escape. He’s left lots of great memories. RIP
One of my favorite ‘little’ movies: Murphy’s Romance with Sally Field. I know every line of that movie, and every time I see it I fall in love with James Garner all over again.
Oh dear. One that I hoped would be around forever. An American icon and Everyman . So sad. Thoughts go out to his family. He will be missed.
Yes, an everyman. That’s what made The Rockford Files so popular.
Aside: My first supervisor’s home was used in an exterior shot in a Rockford Files episode in the 1970s. She lived in Paradise Cove (a mobile home park at the beach in Malibu), but alas, she lost everything in a fire that roared through the area in 1982.
She had kitschy stuff outside, which fit the offbeat theme of The Rockford Files.
Rest in Peace, Jim. You brought lots of smiles to many people.
Some good memories (cnn no less!)
After joining the Merchant Marine and the National Guard, he served in the Korean War, where he won a Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to Los Angeles and took up acting — for the same reason he started modeling, he told the L.A. Times.
“What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing,” he said. “You don’t need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn’t want to be a politician.”
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/20/showbiz/james-garner-death/index.html
A really nice read on the man and his life
Good morning everyone at TOD and beyond, who enjoy dropping in.
Just saw a photo of my Ct. grandson flying! He’s playing the role of Michael Darling in a big time production of Peter Pan and got to experience the flying harness for the first time yesterday. His parents were nervous, but he looked positively exuberant, like he was having the time of his life. We are going out there this week and will be there for Sat. opening night.
Ah, fantastic Dotster!! Although my tummy is queasy at the thoughts of it!!
Awesome!!! :)
My all-time favorite childhood memory - Mary Martin’s Peter Pan.
I was about 5 years old. My brother, 15 years my senior, went and watched it at a friend’s house IN COLOR. I was furious!
And when he came home, he put a plaid apron around my waist, and we sang this song as he flew me threw the air.
We ‘performed’ the entire show for years until I became too big for him to fly me through the air. I wore out the record.
My all time favorite childhood memory……..
BTW, Christopher Walken has been cast as Captain Hook, in a live TV production for NBC next year. The same idea as the horrid Sound of Music from a few years ago. No one else has been cast - they are sticking with convention and will cast a woman in the role of Peter.
Dotster, I hope your grandson’s experience will be as memorable. What a delight.
What a wonderful memory:)
Isn’t it? He was the single most important influence in my life and I miss him terribly.
How fun, and what a kind brother!!
Well, he did need to make it up to me - going and watching it in color and leaving his baby sister behind.
We were the best of friends. It was an extraordinary friendship, and he was equally close to my husband, which gave me infinite joy.
What a wonderful experience this will be for your grandson! Glad you’re going to be there for the big event-your stomach will be fluttery with nerves, but he’ll be great!
How cool is that!
Your grandson is having the best summer of his life!!!!
Absolutely LOVED your July 4th parade story of the “honk contest” between the fire truck and the garbage truck. Love that at your grandson’s age there is no prejudice against working class folks, which he will encounter down the road, if he reads the musings of our elite MSM — for the most part, they are so condescending when they speak of people who don’t have desk jobs.
They better get this guy in there.
It seems, for every one Hamas dead, five civilians die.
Kerry says Hamas is basically the instigators here.
Again, I can’t reiterate how it’s both sides.
I don’t know why people on this blog leave out the fact Hamas are bad people.
Kerry says he’s trying to get a cease fire. He’s definitely saying Hamas is the instigators.
Morning, Jovie…I don’t think that any people here have any illusions about Hamas. I think that they don’t speak for the civilians and the children that are being killed by rockets everyday….no ones hands, on either side of this, are clean. Still, this HAS to stop!!
Correct.
Seem to me the PM of Israel has finally got what he wanted, a war. While I say that, it no way and I mean no way excuse Hamas, who are a terrorists group. And I do believe they use the civilian population as a shield, the more kids which get kill the worst it will make Israel look.
I agree with DF, Jovie. We have two irrational entities and far too much collateral damage among people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one is on the right side in this conflict. I just believe that there were other options for Israel to pursue that would have avoided the bloodbath, but the war mongers decided that massive destruction was the preferred route. The carnage at this point is all one-sided. Israel has made its point and it has to stop. Until Bibi and his cohorts are out of office, I will continue to regard Israel as a nation that once held real promise, but fatally lost its way.
Well, Hamas is digging tunnels into Israel. Kidnapping and drugging Israelis at will. Then, they would launch rockets into Israeli towns.
What is Israel supposed to do ?
Give them roses?
If they find the tunnels, they can destroy them INDIVIDUALLY! We have tunnels here from Mexico to US and you don’t see us bombing the living shit out of Mexico and killing innocent civilians, do you?? Seriously, it’s out of control. Hamas is a terrorist organization, but Israel’s indiscriminate bombing and treatment of Palestinians as people…..is what fuels Hamas to behave the way it does towards Israel. NO ONE’S HAND’S ARE CLEAN HERE, but someone needs to be an adult. Someone needs to say ENOUGH.
It ain’t going to happen. They’ve been fighting for thousands of years. They hate each other.
Isaac and Ishmael blah !
Jovie, it is possible to make targeted attacks and destroy the tunnels without killing massive numbers of people indiscriminately. If Israel demonstrated even an ounce of concern for civilian casualties, I would feel differently, but they openly regard Palestinians as less than people-the same animus that Jews themselves felt over the centuries. And no, I never suggested passivity toward Hamas. I expect decency toward other human beings, especially children, and I have seen absolutely zero of that coming from Israel.
THIS
Hamas is hiding in houses where the innocent live. I don’t condone either. But I understand it. It’s scary. Both sides are ridiculous.
Not once did you two mention that Hamas needs to stop doing what it’s doing.
Enough is right.
I thought that was understood when we each of us said BOTH SIDES ARE TO BLAME AND THIS NEEDS TO STOP. Stop means stop. Everyone just stop. Stop Now, not when you feel like it. Stop now is immediate.
How is candy Crowley doing her job? Is she handling her job in an objective fashion? Discuss at 9am est on TOD! :)
09:00 Candy: How is the President handling the world crisis
09:02 very badly, as per her repub guests. End of show
So according to Crowley, this President is suppose to solve every crisis going on in this world. Email time to Ms. Crowley.
Yes! Even the problems that PAST PRESIDENTS have failed to fix OR address!
This. In fact, we could reasonably say (because - proof) this conflict has been going on since before the US was established as a country. Just there was no teevee and interwebz back then. Some of these braindeads can STFU now.
I am trying to imagine the people who have nothing more important to do on a lovely Sunday morning than watch vitriol dispensed by hateful people. Yes, there are some who make that choice, but I hope never to meet them in my lifetime.
The same lenders who created the disaster of subprime mortgage lending and helped throw the economy into a tail spin are at it again in the used car business. This is insanity and especially so because people who sign these documents are some of the most easily duped in our society. They are ill-informed and unsophisticated and are deliberately led into financial ruin by unscrupulous lenders. We need serious brakes on these lenders and intensive public awareness of the traps that are set out for people who act first and think later.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/dealbook/2014/07/19/in-a-subprime-bubble-for-used-cars-unfit-borrowers-pay-sky-high-rates/?emc=edit_th_20140720&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=445277
This is what the CFPB is for…Richard Cordray would like to know! Write to them or send this along.
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/contact-us/
Ayman Moyheldin is back in Gaza and tweeting his first stop is at the morgue..
Tiger shoots +6 3 months after back surgery and media freaks out, says he’s done. US Open Champ Martin Kaymer shoots +8, but no big deal.
I stopped at media!!!
I have never been a golf fan, but I sure am pulling for Tiger to make a come back. I’m not giving up on that, not just yet.
Another 100 million. Poof! Disappeared… Now you see it now you don’t.
Maybe stop watching/reading TNN…..
If you really need your mind to melt and your head to explode… It’s complicated
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/07/17/the_middle_east_friendship_chart.html
Also from 1965-1980 America had no way of getting into space. The gap was the Saturn V rocket to the space shuttle.
Now it’s the space Shuttle to the Orion.
It’s happened before… So why the emphasis this time around?
1975-1980
Re: Right to Return - If one group has this right, every group has. Which would create chaos. The Palestinians have the right to return to their homes as well. What do we do with that? Saying Hamas is a terrorist organization is correct, but so would be the Native American groups led by Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and every other tribal chief who fought back against the U.S. when their lands were stolen and usurped. A great wrong has been done to the Palestinians. Is it any wonder they fight back?
And, as usual, there is always this: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/19/israel-palestine-war-brought-to-you-by-military-security-industrial-complex-and-israel-lobby/
Team People. I like it.
Indeed!!! And this should be the name of the world event proposed on last night’s blog; people coming together and saying ‘enough’
:) Good idea, Layla!!
The Week Ahead!
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/07/20/rise-and-shine-the-week-ahead-10/
Every media outlet in the US seems to evaluate anything said or done in the world in relation to President Obama. it seems they can’t help themselves. Apparently the Malaysian government has not yet put the blame on Russia for bringing down their aircraft - yet this is how the NYT describes it
“Malaysia’s caution about joining Mr. Obama’s effort to blame Russia also reflects the wariness that many in this heavily Muslim nation feel toward the United States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/world/asia/as-anger-rises-over-crash-malaysian-government-is-reluctant-to-assign-blame.html
Yet PM Cameron has an item on the front page of the Sunday Times (London) with the heading “This is an atrocity made in Moscow”
My PM has put the blame onto Moscow and I’m sure other countries have done the same - so
Why does the press have to say Malaysia is cautious about joining “Mr Obama’s effort” - there is a WORLD WIDE effort putting the blame where it belongs - and sooner rather than later Malaysia will join in.
The reticence is shared by the Dutch — not just Malaysia.
But I think the Dutch’s outrage over the treatment of their best and brightest is beginning to outweigh their economic concerns.
Also, Merkel and Cameron seem to be relying on President Obama (aka “leading from behind,” if you believe our gossip-mongers known as the MSM) to move forward with the West’s long-term strategic action against Putin.
European countries have to take responsibility for where they are - sometimes we are thankful to live down under, but it doesn’t mean we escape the consequences of Putin trying to build an empire.
Having now read LLs piece today - I have no idea how any of these conflicts will ever end.
Sorry, 99ts, you and I seem to like posting here after we’ve moved on to a new thread, LOL.
You’ve both caught VC-itis!
/frown/ I C that!
:grin: …….. I’ll have you know that I’ve already restrained myself from adding comments twice now in my effort to catch up.
VC? You are on Early Bird Chat. EARLY Bird Chat. :lol:
Shush! You’re distracting me. /batting you away as I speak/ I’m trying to catch up, okay? And I’d have been further ahead by now if *you* hadn’t mentioned vc-itis. I couldn’t resist! grrrr!
Ditto, VC. Not really sure where I am, but adding thoughts as they arise. The teevee of the upstairs neighbor (windows open on a cool, beautiful summer morning) and all I hear is nneetnnnetennernnet, yahhyahhahyahhan, nneythhhentnnette, utterly monotonous droning droning droning. Absolutely no wonder people are so brainless and stupid: this sound alone is hypnotic, never mind the content no doubt leaves nothing for a healthy brain to work with. Yes, it’s maddening, maddening and aggravating.
Tune them out.
quick hug {{MP}};
back to the hunt for the last post
:grin:
No worries - I’m always behind! (now 8h later)
All time fav picture of the President and First Lady…swoon!