****
Today
8:0 ET: The President holds a town hall on ‘Guns in America’
(Haven’t seen full schedule yet, so not sure if there are any other public events before the town hall)
07
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16
116 Responses to “Early Bird Chat”
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1ST!
Don!
Congrats, Don….I think we need to share…… Town Hall tonight should be awesome! What are the particulars? I have to work late tonight, so…if I miss some, I’m hoping that it will be up here somewhere:)
Sharing is caring, and yes, the Town Hall should be awesome tonight. I see the NRA isn’t showing up, their one chance to show that they aren’t afraid of President Obama and they chicken out.
I hope that PBO loudly mentions that the NRA was invited to attend and declined…..chickenshits that they are.
I think that PBO needs to connect the dots and paint the picture for those that still refuse to believe what the rest of us know to be true…connect the dots, follow the money…explain the bills that the NRA has blocked and those they have supported….the picture will become clear.
GM DF.
Not surprising that the NRA declined CNN’s invitation (recall their cowardly tweets after every well-publicized mass shooting) — they are greedy cowards.
Would be delicious for PBO (in his avuncular prosecutorial style) to have them at first sputtering, then cowering and whimpering by the end of the Town Hall.
However, I my greatest wish is for PBO to inform CNN viewers that the NRA is a LOBBY — something that the MSM must be paid to hide/deny.
No other LOBBY’s words are unchallenged and treated as gospel by MSM.
Agreed! I want ALL the dirty little secrets from the dirty little liars to come out and play in the sunshine!
LOL
Boom!
You are twinned with Don, moooooorning DF!!! :-)
“Twinned with Don” My dream:) Morning to you too, Chips! That town hall tonight will be awesome! If I miss some, please tell me that you’ll post it here…I have to work later tonight..hugs and thanks ahead of time!
Can’t wait for it either Desertflower, will post it asap!!!!
Thanks so much! I can’t be the ONLY one in TODLAND that will be late tonight:)
I’m sure Chips will have a recap of the night’s events. Will you look at that, amk seems lonely, come on over, you can sit with the cool kids.
Some guy is writing a check for $10M to Jebra, with his current poll numbers in 2016 for his Super PAC?
I Blame Pres Obama ;) He has made these dastardly filthy rich Billionaires to waste their Millions on a Lost Cause, John Ellis Bush.
Thanks, President Obama!
Has anyone seen what channels will televise the townhall? I realize only Trump appearances get wall to wall coverage these day and a “mere” public discussion on a contentious issue like sensible gun policy by the President of the United states isn’t worthy of media attention, but there must be some coverage.
wasn’t it supposed to be with teann’s glamor boy?
GM Jackieg.
It’s an Anderson Cooper CNN town hall, so of course it’ll be on CNN.
Waiting to see if whitehouse.gov/live or CNN will livestream online.
(Article in the link is CNN’s report on PBO’s gun safety reform announcement on Tuesday):
Thanks, Arapaho. I’ve never watched Anderson Cooper or anything else on CNN. Hope Cooper stands far away and doesn’t say one word. This is President Obama’s show and I could care less what Cooper thinks or feels.
Good morning Todville. I also am looking forward to this townhall. Should be spectacular. Really shows what cowards the NRA is to not show up.
With all that is going on in the world I am so thankful we have PBO in charge with his cool head.
Well off to feed the cowboys today. See you later.
Darn it…I will miss the beginning…
Good Thursday morning to the TOD community. Hope everyone is well and will be wonderfully blessed today.
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Good Morning!
G’morning Chips & TOD! Congrats Sir Don on #1 :) Happy Thursday everyone! Looking forward to our President’s town hall this evening. Probably the only time in 2016 I’ll ever watch CNN!
http://www.cafe.com/obamacare-doesnt-work-health-insurance-congress/
Df, any morning that begins with a photo of Paul Ryan is not a good one-so warning needed on this link. Republicans in Congress are worthless time wasters who collect their generous paychecks to loiter in hallways or trim their nails. For them, any program created by a Democrat is a failure, no matter how successful. Any Republican proposed program-no matter how laughably stupid-is deemed an act of genius.
I saw in some interview with some magazine that Trump’s wife said that America needs Trump. The last thing America need is more racism.
Good morning TOD :)
Looks like the Saudis are itching for more than a proxy war with Iran ….
#TrustBarack
Why end it now, I mean it’s going so well, why not hold out until at least the 4th of July? Patriotism and stuff.
as the dood in tarp said, I got plenty of cows to take care of back home.
Cows? doesn’t he mean sheep?
potaytoh, potahtoh.
I see what you did there.
Awww, poor things must be getting cold and hungry. Nobody wants them there, the Hammonds have turned themselves in and these knuckleheads probably can’t come up with a reason to stay. I hope they’re arrested and charged and are made to pay for the cleanup costs of their trespassing.
If the feds had acted against daddy bundy in 2014, this would not have happened. Can’t believe feds let these terrorist thugs get away then.
What standoff? No one is there but them. Now if they mean the standoff against that impending hypothermia yeah I can see their point.
Good West Coast morning Chipsticks & TOD family.
I’ve had enough of the rain already. I need to see the sun today, please Lord! 😎
Hi, GGail! I hear you about the rain! I’m donedonedonedonedone! SUNSHINE PLEASE!!! I don’t even care if it’s warm, I just need to see the sun:)
weren’t you guyz begging for rains just last week?
Hello DF!
Yes, amk, we “do” need the rain, but not all in three days, 24 continuous hours. Spread it out Lord!
yeah, we had that angry rain gods’ act just last month.
So, it was You who gave the rain gods the mapquest directions to our area, thank amk!!! (shaking fist at you)
If I had that kinda power, trust me, I would have permanently parked them over my state and turned on the rains everyday for 3 hours…. From midnight to 3 am. All our water problems solved.
That’s a great window for rain - midnight to 3am.
Get on that for us - will ya?
Thanks amk :-)
Wish granted TOD Rose Queen :) :)
Me, too.
This just hurts my heart too much, meta. I look at this brilliant man and all he’s been through and I wish with that we could be campaigning for him right now.
I wish it were so. He believes he did the right thing but he also has deep regrets. It was a fluke of history, of painful circumstances and tragedy. So sad.
VP Biden, no, I don’t want to hear this now. This breaks my heart
it isn’t too late to change his mind.
<3 💓
Good morning Ms. Chips, Danny and TOD family, I hope all is well with everyone this lovely Thursday morning. Congrats Don, on being first this morning.
To all, I hope that you feel lively, bright-eyed and bushy-tail today. <3 <3 <3
Thank God that President Obama is still the President of The United States of America. ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆
I went to a Ted Cruz rally — and saw James Dobson, Steve King, white evangelical fervor and the scariest family band of all time
Now I understand why Cruz is winning Iowa. You would too if you saw this band sing “I Wish Kids Prayed in School”
QUINT FORGEY
WEDNESDAY, JAN 6, 2025 03:15 PM CST
WINTERSET, Iowa — Those in the overwhelmingly white, senior audience at Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s rally here left with little doubt as to why the Texas senator is dominating the state’s much-sought-after evangelical constituency.
Standing alongside conservative-values author and commentator James Dobson, Cruz swapped out his usual stump for an exchange that blended scripted sermonizing with red-meat fighting words against Democrats he said are fixated on abolishing religious liberty.
“If we allow non-believers to elect our leaders, we shouldn’t be surprised when our government doesn’t reflect our values,” Cruz said to widespread applause.
Cruz called for increased voter turnout among evangelical caucus-goers, using the type of overtly religious rhetoric that has galvanized support from social conservatives and propelled family-values candidates such as Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum to first-place Iowa finishes in 2008 and 2012.
Cruz asked that attendees pray for him by asking for peace for his campaign, for the wisdom granted to the Biblical Solomon and for the well-being of his daughters, Caroline and Catherine.
“That they know at every moment that they’re loved by their mom and dad and they are loved by their father in heaven, and that they maintain a spirit of joy and peace, as well,” Cruz said.
Cruz currently leads all other Republicans in Iowa and has cracked the 30 point level in most poll averages – more than three points ahead than second-place finisher Donald Trump.
My God, rikyrah, Cruz is the damned scariest person running for president since forever. We’ve had whackadoodle minor party candidates, but for a major candidate to act like he does, is just too creepy for words.
Which is why IMHO Cruz is far scarier than Trump will ever be.
That’s why we need both of these repugnant egotists keep running to divide the rw’ers.
All of them are scary to me. Any of the Republicans that make the nomination is going to be scary and we really need to work our asses off to get out the vote as if PBO were on the ballot. I can’t imagine any of them getting 270 without cheating.
EXCLUSIVE: Stolen valor: The militiaman bodyguard of ranchers Cliven and Ammon Bundy is falsely posing as a US Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq
Brian Cavalier, 44, the personal bodyguard of Cliven and Ammon Bundy, openly boasted that he is retired Marine
But US Marine Corps records prove the big-bellied braggart never served and is in fact a tattoo artist with a long rap sheet for DUI
Cavalier is a key figure in the armed militia takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon orchestrated by the Bundys
He wears military style garb including a shemagh scarf often worn by soldiers serving in the Middle East, and has the code name ‘Fluffy Unicorn’
‘That’s unfortunate,’ Cavalier said when Daily Mail Online confronted him over his Marine fabrication
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3387117/Stolen-valor-Militiaman-bodyguard-ranchers-Cliven-Ammon-Bundy-posing-retired-Marine-served-Afghanistan-Iraq-boost-combat-credentials.html
They need a bodyguard? WTF FOR? Legends in their own minds….
So, in short, everything about this so-called militia is phony-their purpose, their ‘leader,’ their inflated numbers, their macho toughness and their ability to survive under ‘any’ circumstances. They are big little boys, dressed in costume and masquerading as tough guys.
I will continue to say this.
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUMP AND THE REST OF THE GOP FIELD..
with the exception that he doesn’t speak in dogwhistles.
………………………………………..
Now you can worry: Trump’s in it to win it, so it’s time to drop fantasy that his campaign is all for show
With two bold new moves, Trump’s campaign shows once and for all that it is no joke. The Donald wants to win.
ELIAS ISQUITH
For most of the second-half of 2015, whether Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is “serious” (definition: unclear) was arguably the question of American politics.
It was asked after his launch speech, which was rambling, incoherent, demagogic, and way too long; it was asked after he criticized Sen. John McCain for being captured by the Vietcong; it was asked after he proposed “rounding up” and deporting some 11 million undocumented immigrants; it was asked after he attacked Fox News darling Megyn Kelly; it was asked after he proposed banning Muslims from entering the U.S.; it was asked again, and again, and again.
Slowly but surely, more and more commentators began to realize that the answer was yes. Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was “serious” — at least in so far as “serious” was equivalent to “capable of winning.” The national polls showed it, the state-level polls showed it, the issue-based polling showed it. By the holiday season, elite endorsements, pricey ad buys, and an expensive big data/GOTV apparatus were the only usual components of a “serious” campaign that Trump 2016 lacked.
……………………
You probably have heard about the first one, which is the release of Trump’s first bona fide campaign commercial. It wasn’t the first video the Trump campaign put out — they spent much of 2015 getting attention with cheeky Instagram clips — but it was the campaign’s first television ad. Even more importantly, Trump announced he was going to actually spend millions of dollars to ensure voters in Iowa and New Hampshire saw it. ($2 million per week, if Trump is to be believed, which he isn’t.)
The second and far more important development, meanwhile, was made public by a recent Politico report, which claimed that Trump was not only spending money on a big data/GOTV apparatus — but that he’d been doing so for months already. The details about the program were admittedly fuzzy; none of the major operators involved agreed to speak on-the-record. But as Politico rightly noted in its report, the implications of Trump’s investment were clear:
GM TODville.
Here’s some tweets I posted this week.
From PBO’s gun safety reform announcement on Tuesday:
I’m starting to see a lot of signs that anybody Bill Clinton ever had ‘relations’ with is going to dragged out of their retirement homes to vilify him. Once again, we’re going to be blasted with month after month of Clinton’s randiest episodes and we all are going to be put in a defensive position when Hilz is our nominee. That’ why I think she needs a 2016 version of PBO’s race speech in 2008, which helped to turn around the Rev. Wright swiftboating madness. The biggest charges I’ve heard against her are 1) she should have left the philanderer; and 2) her tolerance of Bill has made her ‘soft’ on rape. Hillary has got to address this head on, talk about what the whole philandering fiasco meant to her and how she has zero tolerance for rape, or forced sex of any kind. She needs to speak to women first and to men. This won’t stop the Republican onslaught, but it will help to keep dubious Dems and Independents on her side.
I’ve never been a fan of Hillary Clinton, but if she’s our nominee, as seems likely, then I will have to work for her and I don’t wanted to have to fight
Bill’s past with every phone call and encounter.
She could have left him the day she found out and they would still use it to hammer her. A speech won’t do anything for people looking for an excuse not to vote for her regardless of their political stripe.
I agree with jg. She needs to out this behind her for ever with a great speech a la Obama. While many of the young voters won’t give a shit about her past, many older fence sitters could be swung.
Der Bingle, her strategy thus far has been to skirt the questions. I don’t think it will work and I don’t want to be confronted with these questions during voter outreach. I’ve seen too many women question her judgment on this and I don’t think avoiding it is going to help.
I agree. I like that she doesn’t respond directly to Trump on this issue but she’ll need to address it in a big way and put this to rest for good. If she was smart she should be contacting some of PBO’s old speech writers to collaborate with her on something like this. Hint, Hint, Jon Favreau.
Agree, JG.
She should just treat Bill as her “Rev Wright” and address the issue publicly and cogently.
It won’t take very many words for her to do so.
Something like:
=======================
What Bill did broke my heart, but I took (take) my marriage vows for precisely what they mean - a contract to love, irrespective of fault, my spouse until death do us part.
In marriage, we are not the judge of our spouse, we simply do every thing we can to give our spouse every reason to trust and cherish us.
That is how I have lived every day of my marriage and how I will live all the remaining days of my marriage to Bill.
I’m now done with this topic.
Thank you for listening.
======================
The contrast to the scumbag philanderer that is Trump would be unassailable at the end of that speech.
Hope someone gives her my advice and I don’t charge for my speech writing. :)
Bob, that is really, really, outstanding. Damn, I hope someone get HRC’s campaign your message. 👍👌👊✊
Send it to someone in her campaign…Bob…maybe Walsh
Thank you RanMan & pf58.
Took your advice, pf58 :)
#Hope4ALL
bb much later today ….
I agree Bobfr, what you said is short and sweet. If HRC does this she will get more GOP or Independent women voters on her side. The fact that DT wants to drag Bills past into HER race then people need to look at DT’s many failed marriages due to his failings as a husband as well. If the others get into then maybe someone needs to look into to their extra-marital affairs.
I’m not so sure that the entire problem is Bill Clinton’s philandering, which is bad enough, but if any of those reports that she had a hand in smearing or intimidating any of the women who came forward are even half true, then she has a serious problem. Because people will likely understand her staying with him (even though it’s something I wouldn’t do and I think their reasons for being together have always included politics) but they won’t necessarily be so keen on the other stuff. So frankly, I don’t know how she would actually address that in the open and I don’t know if she has what it takes for that, if that is the case.
Ya’ll know how I feel about HRC but I must say, Bill’s penchant for sticking his prick into different objects means absolutely nothing to me. Not my business. That is their personal affair on how they choose to deal with it.
His “randiness” would not mean a damn thing in my decision on whether or not to support Hillary. I don’t think Hillary has to address this at all. The thought that she must address her husbands indiscretions is bullshit.
Well said. There will indeed be a problem and democrats can’t avoid it.
I’ve always thought that having Bill at his side constitutes the biggest risk for Hillary’s campaign. Many independents will be very reluctant to imagine the man living back into the White House for four years, eight years even, given his past misdemeanors. Totally unfair to Hillary, but this is reality.
And I think the whole political world totally underestimates the problem. I hope Hillary’s campaign is more astute, and is preparing a serious strategy to counter the attacks.
Thank God republicans are in such disarray.
GM (again) TODville.
Comment is in moderation (about #TucsonMassacre hero Daniel Hernandez), so I’ll try another.
My personal opinion is ignore the idiotic GOP bluster that is amplified by their propaganda machine, the MSM.
I’m now reading @MikeGrunwald’s “The Nation He Built” essay in Politico Magazine’s “The Obama Issue,” which is written from the “stealth Presidency” perspective.
We expect inaction/blockage by Congress to all of PBO’s proposals, but the federal government WILL begin employing Smart Gun technology and the marketplace WILL follow suit. As Grunwald states in his article:
“He [PBO] has engineered quite a few quiet revolutions—and some of his louder revolutions are shaking up the status quo in quiet ways.”
Here’s GoBrooklyn tweet with link to Mike Grunwald’s article…
…in PoliticoMag’s Jan/Feb “The Obama Issue” (which has the usual Obama-bashing articles to offset Grunwald’s objective essay).
From yesterday:
I loved the idea of smart guns. As PBO said so perfectly, “if you can make it so a child can’t open a bottle of aspirin, why can’t you make a gun a child can’t shoot.”
If you google NRA smart guns, you will find a story in MJ that tells about NRA fighting against these smart weapons. Can you please find and post? Thanks!
Good morning TOD family.
My local TV listing says that the Town Hall with President Obama is 2 hours long!
From 8:00 to 10:00
I’m surprised by this and wonder if it is a mistake. ???
NY Times tells us that 2 detainees off to Ghana yesterday are “part of a flurry of 17 releases happening early in January.”
I think the live town hall is one hour, but CNN probably plans their usual garbage “analysis” for another hr afterwards. Regardless I will only be tuning in for PBO’s town hall and nothing else.
When you put more emphasis on keeping your job than doing your job this is the result.
Rahm is toast!!!!!!!
Our taxpayer $$$ being wasted on garbage like this….
I just hope all the Obamacare beneficiaries really turn out along with their families and friends, come nov.
Please explain to me the purpose of this B.S. by Paul Ryan? This is the stupidity this President have had to deal with for seven years.
.
Ooops! Chips, BTs, please help! Only meant to post the toon, not the rest. Could you delete. Many thanks!
Excellent piece by Connie Schultz at National Memo on PBO and NRA . On my phone so can someone grab it and bring it over?
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/10151800_10153206754650741_4250293301266976231_n.jpg?oh=a014f273dcafa9efdd1440e3e0f27438&oe=570A8C78
Chips, this is the toon I meant to post. Could you please delete my post above, posted at 10:23am? I just tried to post the toon & ended up adding that facebook page.
I’ve had to sweep my Twitter TL much more frequently these past few days :)
Q: Is hillz even on the campaign trail? Or has the corrupt media blacked out her events?
Good Thursday, TODers!!!
So Trump thinks it’s a win for him that 4500+ people are about to lose their job. His pettiness is one among his traits that should disqualify him as POTUS. Gloating at other’s misfortunes….AND taking credit for it.
Bernie, Hillary go to war over Wall Street: Sanders gets upper hand as he pitches fix for financial industry
Sanders says Clinton lacks “courage” to stand up to Wall Street as he outlines plan to shape up financial industry
SEAN ILLING
WEDNESDAY, JAN 6, 2025 10:32 AM CST
If you’ve seen the new film “The Big Short,” you know it was the greed of Wall Street, combined with the lack of regulatory control, that produced the 2008 economic crisis. You also know that nothing has changed. We still haven’t had serious financial reform and, even more disturbing, most of the banks are now bigger than they were before the crash. In fact, as the Washington Post noted, “three of the four largest financial institutions are nearly 80 percent larger” than they were in 2008.
Of all the candidates, Bernie Sanders has been the most consistent when it comes to regulating the vultures on Wall Street. He’s also the most credible, given his record and his refusal (in stark contrast to Hillary Clinton) to accept corporate funding for his campaign.
This week Sanders doubled down on his economic populism. In a speech on Tuesday, just a few miles away from Wall Street, the Vermont senator clarified his views on financial reform. “To those on Wall Street who may be listening today,” Sanders said, “let me be very clear…Greed is not good. Wall Street and corporate greed is destroying the fabric of our nation. And, here is a New Year’s Resolution that we will keep: If you do not end your greed we will end it for you.”
Responding to Clinton’s accusation that his proposals are too vague and simplistic, Sanders was especially clear about his intentions as president:
To say nothing has changed is to deny the effect of DoDD-Frank
Trump you ought to be ashame of your last and first name.
Trump is a disgrace
David Brooks is so very afraid: Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and the New York Times sadistically exploit anxiety over Islamic terrorism to grab votes
The threat of terrorism in Iowa is minute, but GOPers continue to exaggerate the danger there — and everywhere else
AMANDA MARCOTTE
WEDNESDAY, JAN 6, 2025 10:05 AM CST
For 21st century conservatives, “fear” is not an authentic feeling of actual concern for your safety, but an ideological pose struck to justify the darker, more sadistic urges that motivate the Republican base.
In our day and age, declaring you want war for the pleasure of conquest or that you support racist policies out of unvarnished bigotry is socially unacceptable. So fear is donned as a costume to conceal the hate. The shivering coward is a more sympathetic figure than the snarling bigot, and so no matter how laughably implausible their posture of fear is, conservatives will strike it.
No where is this more obvious than in the Republican town halls and rallies that have taken over Iowa in the run-up to the primary. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times paints a picture of candidates and voters gathering together to act like they’re huddled in a bunker while the Germans blitzkrieg London.
“This despairing tone was on display Monday as Republicans crisscrossed the country on the first full day of campaigning in the new year,” he writes, “and began airing commercials that had a singular and sometimes fearsome focus on national security.”
And Mr. Brooks’ half baked essay ignores Christie’s endless 9/11 fear mongering in NH and elsewhere?
Just about all GOPers have been ginning up Fear
Chat away
http://theobamadiary.com/2016/01/07/chat-away-748/
Couldn’t happen to a more loathesome group.
…………..
Uber fail: Why the start-up giant stumbled in Europe — and how it could happen in the U.S.
Wall Street’s favorite “disruptor” thought its usual strategy would work in Germany. It got walloped instead
ELIAS ISQUITH
WEDNESDAY, JAN 6, 2025 06:59 AM CST
So here’s a story you don’t read very often anymore, certainly not in the United States.
A red-hot and impossibly well-funded corporation — one with extensive ties to the powers that be not only on Wall Street but also in Silicon Valley — recently tried to strong-arm its way into a major market. It did so despite the fact that its business model was, in many respects, incompatible with that market’s predominant government regulations and social norms. The plan, I guess, was to “disrupt.”
If you’re someone who pays attention to the business press, or lives in a big city, then you’ve probably already guessed that I’m talking about Uber. You’re probably already aware of its market valuation — currently a gobsmacking $62.5 billion — and you’re probably already familiar with the company’s preferred means of market penetration. You’ve probably heard tales before of its smash-and-grab ethos, its fondness for ignoring the law and daring overmatched regulators to do something about it.
Remember, though, that I said this is a story you don’t hear very often. This one hasn’t ended like all the others (at least not yet). Because in this example, Uber did something different. Yes, it swooped in, it broke the rules, it ignored local customs and traditions. But then it did what it had almost never done before, what many people on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley thought it couldn’t do. It picked a fight — and it lost.
There’s no other way to describe the company’s recent decision to all but give up on getting a foothold in Germany, at least for the time being. It’s hard to imagine Uber permanently giving up on Europe’s biggest economy, of course. But according to a report in The New York Times, Uber’s problem goes well beyond Germany’s borders. Deutschland is just one of many places where Uber’s struggling — and it’s almost always for the same reason.