On This Day: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dance together at an Inaugural Ball, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington
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MoooOOOooorning Early Birds!
21
Jan
14
134 Responses to “Early Bird Chat”
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Hi! Psst! Miss! Got any change? Was waiting for you this morning. Have a great day! :grin:
Cheat. Mooooooorning VC!!!!
It worked!
ps - You would know. /add angel smilie here/
Howdy, all TODobots!
Good morning VC and congrats on first. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! I love waking up and knowing that president Obama is at the helmđđđđ
:cool:
Great Pic - to emanate Pollyanna - Iâm so glad President Obama won the election. Sometime you folks get it right :)
FTR - Your ace reporters did an awesome job with their MLK reporting yesterday! I learned quite a bit of ‘newâ info, and saw pics I hadnât seen before. Sure hope youâll make a special note in their upcoming performance review, even if you are not in a position to give them a raise in these difficult (middle class) economic times.
Holy mackerel! I was busy finding some good stuff to post…and I come back to a new thread with 5 comments already! Was I THAT engrossed in my readings?
morning
OHHHH Dim Sum, my favorite!!!!
My! What a big basket you have!
amk, are we invited for dim sum or are you going to devour that all by yourself?
what dim sums?
I know nuthinâ, I know nuthinâ,
Cantonese tapas.
oopsie.
Itâs a bit early on this side of the world for that kind of breakfast, donât you think?
either that or this. Your choice.
Thanks ever so much, but Iâll pass. Wouldnât want to stir up my insides so early/late.
so afraid of itsy bitsy spicy? coward.
Always pleased when you recognize me. :razz: :razz: Makes me feel special.
:lol: Fixed it for ya, mooooorning Sir!!
àźšàź©àŻàź±àźż
Does that mean ‘thank you petal, you are the light of my lifeâ?
Do I look like a frigginâ poet to you?
Well ….. fair point.
we engineers donât do romance.
Ha, my mother would disagree, my late Dad was an engineer!
/snicker. snicker./ :lol: :lol: Tryint to imagine you as a petal just doesnât seem to be working for me. /snicker - snicker/ Sorry, Chips. A leaf, maybe…like a maple leaf. /snicker/
A maple leaf?
Yep! High compliment. Itâs so much sturdier than a petal, and look at all those directions in which it points! All over the place - just like you. :lol: :lol:
:lol: You cheeky rascal!
Suggest you not use that ‘cheekyâ word anymore. Brings back memory of you using it with that (im)modest pic on the medal you were awarded not so long ago. Just saying.
Well done, Chips! Where are pics of Danny?
Heâll still be hitting on the teachers - itâs all he has left to attack.
Breaking - President Obama to meet with Pope Francis at in Vatican City on March 27
Source: NBC News
Will update as more info becomes available..
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/
What a meeting THIS will be!
Commies!!!! :lol: Fantastic!!
Two people who want the underprivileged to have a better lot in life are going to meet. GOP heads explode in 3âŠ2âŠ.1
Ohhh, DF, this is great news! So glad this is happening. The photos will be in all the history books.
:)
When??
Ah, okay, I see DFâs link.
3/27——-donât like it, donât think itâs right.
Morning Dotster. Why do you feel that way?
Top oâ the morninâ to you! As I have oft stated, I prefer our leaders/govt. to keep as far away from religion as possible—-all religions. It has always worked out best that way, and the opposite is true as one may have noticed throughout history, everywhere. And I know President Obama isnât signing him up for his cabinet, and this pope seems to be a breath of fresh air (except for his adamant anti-choice statements), but I just donât like the precedent, singling out one religionâs leader for a mtg.——will all religious leaders then expect a private mtg. with our president? I love almost everything about President Obama and respect the decisions he makes——this one just makes me uncomfortable.
Dotster, I understand what you mean, but the Vatican is actually regarded as a separate state-with its own separate US ambassador-so essentially the president is meeting with a head of state. Most US presidents have had meetings with the pope, so itâs not something unusual. I donât believe there are other world religions that have a similar set up. Only a few have one recognized leader and none that I know of is a head of state.
Ah, I understand what you mean Dotster, Iâm not too keen on politics and religion ever meeting either, but so long as favoritism isnât shown to one particular religion I think these ‘courtesyâ calls are okay. I suppose the Catholic church is unique-ish in that it has one big boss, so this meeting becomes a big deal, but PBO has hosted so many other religions at the WH and met with religious leaders (eg in Israel) on his travels, Iâd be okay with it.
I agree with you, dotster
joker out down under in 5 set beaut. wawrinka wows.
Crazy game - temperatures have been much lower this week - making for some really good tennis
(Heat has headed back to my part of the country - not good).
down under turned everything upside down this time around. Next to go rafa.
you want :)
I wish what I want. And I want what I wish.
See man u / chelsea match.
Nadal looks to have the easiest run into the semis -and I want/wish Murray out.
Thy wish is granted. why ? fedex, thatâs why.
Indeed, but also I find Murray not very pleasant to watch & listen to
I just noticed - the higher in the rankings have lost the 2 quarters to date - so on that basis Federer (6) should win & Nadal (1) should loose - O sage one
Perfect, AMK.
punk has a punchable smug face.
Amk, needs an additional line-“and where I, Joe, am richly rewarded with millions that allow me to think Iâve entered the corporate class and earned the right to look down on you “suckers.”
He is close to the worst show host I have seen - he doesnât give his guests space to speak - even when the agree with him. Full of self love - not sure who he loves the most, himself or the governor.
harsh, but true.
LOL.
My grand baby just said, “ooo…I want one of those. A blue one!” :)
kids do say the damndest things. :)
Grand babes are just the most wonderful thing in the world - I live in awe of mine - :)
amk…..I donât know if you meant this as a joke or not , but the Tea Party is the KKK.
beebs buries christie corruption a deep down one liner
Front page top in US&Canada section
front page bottom in the real front page.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
The real front page seems to be enveloped in war and protests - Christie is a big guy - but the competition from Syria, Thailand, Delhi, Ukraine - is fairly strong.
Bit of a worry that our excuse for a Prime Minister gets a front page story
Morning all. Winter storm on its way here. Light snow started, so donât know what the day will bring. If youâre in a storm area today, stay safe.
Stay safe Jackie. I just woke up to find all of the schools here in the ‘burbs are CLOSED. Philly has school with an announced early dismissal. Snow isnât due to start until after 11:00 am
Thanks, Alycee, itâs already coming down hard and the schools are closed. I can see the highway from an upstairs window and the cars are slowing down and there are fewer of them by the minute.
:lol: Thatâs fantastic!!
and rush rushes to hell directly that day. make it happen, pope dood.
chips, something came for you.
https://twitter.com/Independent/status/425618534690226176\
Nah! She MAY be in her 20s but sheâs not still living at home - her mother eased her out of the nest early. Iâm sure of it. :grin:
Hi Bobfr… If youâre around I wanted to give you a heads up- Greg Mortensen is about to be interviewed on the Today Show (if youâre in Cntrl or Est time-zone) now -7:23cntrl for me.
Happy, Happy TOD everyone else!
Going out for dinner. ummm, chicken biryani.
Youâre toast, buddy.
January 18, 2025
Newark school boss Anderson cracks down on critics, suspends five principals in one day
At Newarkâs Hawthorne Avenue School, the test scores are up, higher than state-imposed goalsâand certainly better than those of the highly touted âRenewâ schools favored by the administration. The hallways are quiet. Teachers and administrators get along. And this was all done despite central officeâs stripping away of faculty resources and shameful neglect of the building. So, in the crazy, bullying logic of Gov. Chris Christieâs administration of city schools, it was time to suspend the schoolâs successful principal, H. Grady James. He was just too good to be allowed to stay.
Time to suspend himâand to try to smear his reputation by saying he was involved in some sort of âincidentâ now under âinvestigation.â The âincidentâ was a community meeting at the Hopewell Baptist Church last Wednesday where he spoke, praising the efforts of his students, teachers and parents.
James was one of five principals indefinitely suspended in one day by Cami Anderson, Christieâs agent in Newark. The others were Tony Motley, Bragaw Avenue School; Dorothy Handfield, Belmont-Runyon School; Deneen Washington, Maple Avenue School, and Lisa Brown, Ivy Hill School.
Four of the principalsâJames, Motley, Handfield, and Washingtonâhad spoken at the community meeting two days earlier. They tried to answer questions from local residents worried about what would happen to their children as Anderson moves toward a wholesale transfer of public school assets to the KIPP Schools, a charter organization that operates TEAM Academy Charter Schools. Questions Anderson wasnât answering. See and hear what they said here.
http://bobbraunsledger.com/newark-school-boss-anderson-cracks-down-on-critics-suspends-five-principals-in-one-day/
In a sense this story is more frightening than the others. Christie is working for the Koch program: destroy public education and transform it into a private for profit enterprise. Christie and his gang are like mafia rulers.
Something has to be done to wake up the national media to whatâs happening. I donât think theyâre evil people. Theyâre just lazy and shallow, and they live in a bubble. They never ever see the big picture.
In the same vein, I came across two absolutely FANTASTIC diaries discussing, in the context of the Christie scandals, why authoritarian bullies are now the norm in the GOP and why the press doesnât see beyond the façade.
Itâs from the “orange” but PLEASE make an exception and go read those diaries. Fantastic source of information, and food for thought for everyone interested in american politics. Those diaries should be spread far and wide. I intend to tweet the links to the national pundits. If we all do that, maybe we can wake up a couple of them.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/19/1269003/-Exploring-The-Mystery-of-Christie-as-a-Case-Study?showAll=yes
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/20/1270744/-Christie-Mystery-Part-2-The-Case-Study-Deepens
WASHINGTON (AP) â President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican as part of a European trip scheduled for March.
The White House says Obama “looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality” during their March 27 meeting. Obama also plans to meet in Rome with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
Obamaâs trip begins March 24-25 in The Hague, Netherlands, where he will participate in a nuclear security summit hosted by the Dutch government and meet with Dutch leaders.
On March 26, Obama will travel to Brussels for an U.S.-European Union summit with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, as well as meetings with Belgian leaders and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Christie ally dismisses ‘lady mayorâ
By Steve Benen
01/21/14 08:00AM
As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christieâs (R) administration is confronted with a growing list of controversies, the governorâs Republican allies are starting to fan out to push back against the recent scandals and allegations. And as it happens, itâs not just Rudy Giuliani making odd arguments.
Take former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R), for example, whoâs taken it upon himself to question the veracity of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer (D) following her accusations of Christie administration corruption.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/christie-ally-dismisses-lady-mayor
Federal judge strikes down NCâs ultrasound abortion law, citing free speech
By Anne Blythe and Craig Jarvis
January 17, 2025
Doctors in North Carolina cannot be forced to show women ultrasound images and describe them in detail before performing an abortion, a federal judge ruled Friday. The decision was lauded by civil rights advocates and criticized by supporters of the law.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles ruled Friday that the provision of a 2011 North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to display ultrasound images so women can see them and then describe the dimensions of an embryo or fetus and other particulars is overly broad and a free-speech violation.
Eagles, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama, described the clause as a âone-size-fits-all provisionâ that is âan impermissible attempt to compel these providers to deliver the stateâs message in favor of childbirth and against abortion.â
âThe Supreme Court has never held that a state has the power to compel a health care provider to speak, in his or her own voice, the stateâs ideological message in favor of carrying a pregnancy to term, and this Court declines to do so today,â Eagles wrote in her ruling.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/01/17/3542149/federal-judge-strikes-down-ncs.html#storylink=cpy
Christie cancelled the Ellis Island event …blaming the weather
oops… also last nights dinner was cancelled too…due to low response for the event.
Cory Booker is staying in DC
Sorry Linda - didnât see your post - Iâve repeated it
Booker might just not want to be dragged into this - being his town got more money than any of the others - why would that be?
I just had to put Barbour on mute……his southern drawl is bothering me.
His lies are also a bother. Always interesting when 1 GOPer does the rounds - no-one else wants to talk.
Seem to be few folks admitting to attending the Christie inauguration. Chuck Tod seems to have joined the MSNBC majority !!
Cory Booker is reported to NOT be attending
Dinner last night was cancelled through lack of interest
Barbour doing the rounds defending Christie - and I am amazed Chuck is (just a little) pushing back.
Barbour is using the ” but she tweeted ” defense……
He also has no clue what he is talking about, saying the ” lady mayor ” incident happened in April…when in fact it was May.
He also lied about what she said - What I really like about Steve & Rachel - they research the facts - If Barbour said that to either of them - they would play her video or read her exact words. Chuckie nods the head.
https://twitter.com/eldeemocrat/status/425633704279408641
gee, ya think? you punks bred these venomous snakes, now you whine that theyâre biting your hand?
FLOTUS is the best. She makes eating healthy so much fun.
Michelle is hella fine!
Our First Lady is so dam cool. Did you see her dunk on Lebron?
Hmm?
Perhaps, Christie should get all his peeps…..JoeScar, Mika, Chuck Todd, Mark H., Kelly O of NBC, Andrea Mitchell, etc to come out and party with Him?
50 people and hardly any takers? Oh yeah, Christie is READIER for his Dinner party. :lol: :roll: :lol:
lol. ezra klein is out of wapo.
Good morning, TODville. Interesting day already.
Okay, what did I miss?
I think it was Hopefruit that asked who was giving the RWNJ rebuttal to SOTU.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/01/21/sen-mike-lee-to-deliver-tea-party-response-to-obama/?tid=hpModule_ba0d4c2a-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&hpid=z10
Ooooof. Oaffff. Pfffft!
What happen to Marco Rubio, since he did such a fine job last year.
oh brother…Christie is getting a 19 cannon salute at the swearing in.
hahahaaaa
If 19 cannons go off and no one is around to hear them, do they still make a sound? :)
Rep. Gohmert drops health coverage, blames Obamacare.
WASHINGTON â Lots of conservative lawmakers hate Obamacare. Rep. Louie Gohmert is putting his money where his mouth is.
The Tyler Republican gave up his health insurance for 2014, asserting that the presidentâs signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, has made coverage too expensive.
âOther people are going to see what I did when I looked into health insurance for my wife and me: that the deductible rate, it doubled, about $3,000 to $6,000, and our policy was going to go from about $300 to about $1,500 a month,â he said during a recent radio interview with Trey Graham, a pastor at First Melissa Baptist Church in Collin County. âI actually donât have insurance right now, so thank you very much, Obamacare.â
Gohmertâs salary as a member of Congress is $174,000 a year. And his calculations ignore the hefty employer subsidy for which he is eligible â almost $950 per month. He says he will pay the tax that takes effect this year for those without insurance â 1 percent of his annual income.
Health care experts say Gohmert is taking a big risk. Heâs 60. His wife, Kathy Gohmert, is 59. At that stage of life, medical expenses are common and unpredictable.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140120-rep.-gohmert-drops-health-coverage-blames-obamacare.ece
Louie Gohmert :
Net Worth: From $-215,000 to $-110,002
Rank: 435th in House
Assets: 0
Liabilities: 5 totaling $610,004 to $1,215,000
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00026148&year=2012
And this asshole wants to walk around without health insurance, good luck dumbass.
With all the stress from His Hateful heart. He is not a Young man…..as illness becomes part of his aging, then he is making his family and the tax payers pay for his illness?
Damn! Talk about underwater….and he has the nerve to critique the unemployed. Now I ask you…who do you know with negative net worth who would be extended a million dollars in credit?
I guess next heâll cut off his nose to spite his face.
:roll:
What an asshole. He will come to his senses or get a real job. My brother is 64 and his monthly amt is $500 but it beats no insurance. Goober is one illness away from bankruptcy….smart move. I bet we hear his wife has cancer and he will have to leave office because he canât afford her med bills on his salary. I see this a big plus for his district.
If Gohmert the dam racists nut wants no health coverage, well so be it. But most of the 30 to 40 million out there do want health coverage. And thanks to Obamacare they will have it.
Charlie Christ is hiring some of the heavy hitters from the Obama campaign. Letâs win back FLORIDA, yo!
Messina and Goff:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/01/jim-messina-obama-campaign-manager-to-join-charlie-crists-campaign.html
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagnoâs speech reminded me of a doll with a pull string on her back . It sounded like a recording.
Rise and Shine!
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/01/21/rise-and-shine-724/
HUBRIS.
Did Adoring Christie Coverage Invite NJ Corruption?
By ERIC BOEHLERT
——————————————
Zimmer hasnât been alone in alleging payback. According to Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, after he failed to endorse Christieâs re-election last year a series of meetings he had scheduled with previously supportive Christie officials were abruptly canceled and never rescheduled. And Elizabeth, NJâs longtime mayor, Christian Bollwage, claims that after he opposed parts of Christieâs legislative agenda in 2010, the state retaliated with collective punishment for Elizabeth locals by closing the cityâs only Department of Motor Vehicles department.
In the wake of the mounting revelations, the Daily Newsâ Lupica quotes a political insider who described described Christieâs mounting woes this way: “Christie has been on a continual roll and he thinks heâs invincible. And once you think you are invincible, youâve got a problem.”
Question: Who was instrumental in convincing Chris Christieâs political team that the governor was invincible? The Beltway media.
—————————————-
Read more here âŠâŠ
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/01/21/did-adoring-christie-coverage-invite-nj-corrupt/197660