****
Monday
The President and the First Lady will participate in a community service project in the Washington, DC area in celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and in honor of Dr. King’s life and legacy.
****
Tuesday
The President will welcome Prime Minister Turnbull of Australia to the White House on the Prime Minister’s first trip to Washington since assuming office.
****
Wednesday
The President will travel to Detroit, Michigan to experience firsthand the remarkable progress made by the City, its people and neighborhoods, and the American auto industry. While in Detroit, the President will visit the 2016 North American International Auto Show to highlight the more than 640,000 new auto industry jobs created since the auto rescue and the record auto sales in the U.S. in 2015.
****
Thursday
The President will deliver remarks and host a reception for the nation’s mayors at the White House.
As part of her Joining Forces Initiative, First Lady Michelle Obama will deliver remarks at the 84th Winter Meeting of the United States Conference on Mayors at the Capital Hilton. She will speak about the Administration’s efforts to end veteran homelessness and the importance of mayoral leadership in the process.
****
Friday
The President will award National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation to 17 scientists, engineers, mathematicians and innovators.
See ya later!
GM Chips and TOD.
Yea!
GM/GA TODville.
This is for No Spin, on previous thread, when I posted this:
The article is from September of last year and refers to filing deadlines to enter primary races, many of which have come and gone.
No candidate entering Dem race could accumulate enough delegates via state primaries and caucuses to win outright nomination now.
well if that truly is the case then the Democrats should hope O’Malley can push forward and gain momentum or they are royally screwed.
He screwed up royally by not getting enough signatures to be on ballot in Ohio. Ohio for pete’s sake!!! Can’t even qualify for write-in is my understanding, but could be wrong. Geez. Weak leadership.
Yep. Epic fail!
Happy Sunday, TOD!
Chips, the only thing I would add to the President’s calendar, where you listed, “While in Detroit, the President will visit the 2016 North American International Auto Show to highlight the more than 640,000 new auto industry jobs created since the auto rescue and the record auto sales in the U.S. in 2015,” would be to add, “and so he could look adorable sitting in one of the classy new autos!”
Good one, JO’B.
Thanks, jackieG!
I’m arriving here midday because I had to give myself a break earlier, after seeing the President address the nation on Iran.
Right before that, although I woke up in a cheery mood, I heard Fareed Zakaria on CNN say that this morning “we will FINALLY hear from President Obama about Iran.” Now, maybe he meant that - like us - he was awaiting the President’s remarks late, late last night, and couldn’t wait to hear the status in Iran directly from the President - if it had been possible for him to give us an update at that time. Not a sloppy update, like a “cable news” person, but a responsible, diplomatic, timely, leader-of-the-free-world update. That one highlighted word from Fareed - “FINALLY” - pissed me off big time! So I muted everything until I heard the President (and I’m so very proud of what he and his administration have accomplished, I could burst!), and then turned my attention to non-political things for a bit.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.
JO’B, this is how I have lived all the years of the Obama presidency. Mute all intros by professional media, listen to the president and turn off commentaries. I also think it’s healthy to step away from all political news for a few hours-take a walk, read a book, polish furniture, redecorate-what ever gets your mind off.
Agree! For the last two or so weekends, I’ve avoided all political commentary - as I did today, after hearing from the great President Obama! He calms my soul.
This @Interior reminder of free entrance to NPS tomorrow fits in nicely with this thread
How old are you? You look too young to be 51. FLOTUS will never forget that sweet little girl.
:)
Awww! ❤️
Oh!
That face! The dress! The necklace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!
In my infinitesimally I will make her stunt yesterday hurt her chances of the nomination as much as possible ….
Yes We Can
#Hope4ALL
“In my infinitesimally … small way …. I will ….”
LOVE IT!!!!!!
Well done, Ms DeGeneres, very well done!!
ohhhh myyy goodness….is that for real
LOL! Nah, that’s just Ellen being Ellen! Wishful thinking. Pretty sure FLOTUS not interested AT ALL. But it’s a lovely dream! 😄
FLOTUS running for the WH 2024. Okay
POTUS said the other day No, No, No!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are three things in life that are certain, death, taxes, and Michelle will not be running for President. :)
Liftoff!!! 🚀
This is one of my favorite speeches given by FLOTUS
Yep, there are worst places to hear the word “nominal.”
http://www.fastcompany.com/3055490/bill-nyes-big-ideas-to-combat-climate-change
My 2nd favorite speech was the speech she gave at the 2012 DEM Convention
Happy Birthday First Lady Michelle Obama
Maybe the problem is that we’re looking at the Hillary Clinton situation through a political lens and not a psychological lens. When you’re beloved by black folk as much as the Clintons were you can’t come away from thinking that you’re not one of them, or that you don’t understand the plight of black folk. The problem the Clintons encountered was that an actual black man arrived and challenged their standing in the black community. When Bill Clinton was attached, many in the black community defended him.
When his impeachment was taking place every black minister with a church ran down to the White House to lay hands on Bill Clinton and to pray for him. Damn near every black celebrity that ever met Bill Clinton said that Bill had a special connection with them. For lack of a better word, Bill Clinton had a stranglehold on the Black community. In the eighties in the black community you had a lot of social and judicial unrest, blacks had to find a way to channel that unrest, and they found it through starting businesses, they found it through the arts, and they found it through politics. And by the time the nineties arrived the black community was on the verge of realizing its power.
Then Bill Clinton arrived, he invited us into the White House to break bread with him, in so many ways “he felt our pain.” To this day Bill and Hillary Clinton can walk into any neighborhood of color and be welcomed with open arms. In the black community the past works of the Clintons guaranteed our never wavering loyalty.
And then it happened, on a cold day in Illinois an unassuming skinny black man with an unusual name said that he was running to be President of the United States of America. And as quickly as he announced he was also quickly dismissed, even by some in the black community. The black political structure was not ready for Barack Obama, we were ok if you ran for Mayor or Senator or Governor. But for the Presidency, hold on a minute young buck. The psychological chains are the hardest chains the black community has ever had to break; even to this day we struggle to break them to some extent. And this is where the Clintons come in; we in the black community we put the Clintons on such a pedestal that they’ve convinced themselves that they can do no wrong when it came to the black voter. What the Clintons failed to understood was that a vote for Barack was not necessarily a vote against them.
Many people believed that black people voted for Barack because he was black, some of that is true. But those voters didn’t outnumber those voters that voted against Barack because he was black; those two groups cancelled each other out. So, now you have the Clintons being loved in the black community versus the black community voting for Barack Obama. And that is the problem that the Clintons couldn’t understand, to this day they still don’t understand it. And because they didn’t understand it they lashed out in ways that didn’t make sense in the black community. Bill Clinton telling Ted Kennedy that back in the day someone like Barack would be serving them coffee, questioning Barack’s citizenship. And undermining the President Obama at every opportunity are just some of the ways that they have lashed out. The Clintons would do well this time around to embrace President Obama and understand what he represents for the country, but more importantly what he represents for the black community.
i never had Clinton Fetish….don’t know too many folks in my circle that did…it always rankled me that he was called the 1st Blk President…
I think it was the great writer Toni Morrison that labeled Bill Clinton as that.
i wondered what Toni Morrison thinks now…
I voted for Bill Clinton but I never regarded him to be a friend of the Black community. Actually, in 1992, he went out of his way to disrespect Black people. He run on a platform of being tough on crime, a code word for being tough on Black people. To demonstrate his toughness on Crime (Clinton was still governor of Arkansas) he allowed the execution of a mentally ill black man.Under his watch, and because of many of his policies, a record number of black folks-mostly young Black males- were incarcerated. Randall Robinson, in his book, “The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe To Each Other,” exposed the myth that Clinton was a friend of Black people.
AMENNNNN
I nominate this to be on the front page of its very own thread. I learn from my TOD family…and today I learned this. Thank you, Don.
i believe it was humiliating that blk folks felt this way…sorry i just do….it was a con game…
I agree with you, Prettyfoot.
Very thought provoking post, Don.
Although I was totally in SoS Clinton’s corner in ’08, PBO, (as unexpected as he was) totally captivated me from the get go. I instantaneously believed in him as I did RFK so long ago, and still do.
Like so many here, I just want President Obama’s legacy to be carried on.
Bill Clinton was, for all his faults, the first President that treated black people like peers, that didn’t automatically bash for our “morals”. From Eisenthower, to Daddy Bush, black people were more like a “problem” to be solved than citizens to be embraced. So when Bill Clinton came to DC, and we saw all of the new black faces both socially and politically, we felt good.
I believe Hill will continue Bill’s legacy. But she has to realize that times have changed. Back when she even thought about running for President someday, the idea that only by being super-hawkish would Americans elect a woman President.. Add her reserved personality, and the scars from growing up in a world where she was expected to be simply a :”helpmeet”, and sometimes she comes across a little too tough. But I have never believed that she’s a hawk at heart. And certainly I don’t worry about her judgement, especially compared to the Republicans that were basically jonesing for war with Iran or anything.
Hi Don, wonderfully insightful comment. Hope you don’t mind. I created a post out of it and alerted Chips or Nerdy to frontpage t when possible. Hope it happens :)
No problem.
Gotta stand up and applaud this comment, Don.
It’s absolutely positively on point.
BRAVO!!
BRAVO!!
Well done, Don.
FYI…I had NO IDEA there was a Dem. debate tonight….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/debates/schedule/
It’s not like it’s been promoted much.
DWS is perhaps the worst scheduler in the history of scheduling.
No, it’s okay: You can say she’s the worst. She IS the worst! She’s been a damn disaster and I’m baffled as to why she’s still DNC chair.
i think it might be too late to change the horse
No, I’m pretty sure the guy/gal who had President Bush & McCain smiling and holding a birthday cake while people were standing on rooftops in New Orleans still… takes the cake.
To be fair.
Ah! Ya got me there, Ralph! Touche’!
Yeah, McCain and his “time for some real talk” shtick.
And on a football playoff night at that. Playoffs, playoffs, you talking about playoffs!
Sunday night of a football and holiday weekend. It’s almost like she didn’t want anyone to see it….
Its not like the playoff schedule and the holiday weekend were announced late last night.
Prettyfoot, I like following you on twitter.
is that a good thang?
LOL, yes.
:D
:) Seriously. I just smh.
Happy Birthday to a most lovely Lady, may your blessings today last the whole year through. A wonderful and blessed birthday First Lady Michelle
Typical BS…and the MSM complied
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/01/17/fox-news-lets-ted-cruz-lie-claim-obama-swapped-iranian-terrorists-prisoners.html
Honestly do we expect anything better from Fox. Fox is own, run, by a bold face liar. And the people who swear by everything they get from Fox are the same. The truth doesn’t matter to them over there at Fox.
Ted Cruz is no better then Trump.
As far as I am concerned, Ted Cruz is worse than Trump.
bbl
Whenever i see a tweet from the O’Malley team i always think…when will the announcement come the he is leaving the race…i had such high hopes for his candidacy…as Donna said he waited too long to get into the race…then he was sidelined by the events of Baltimore…his candidacy has never gotten on track….sigh…it is a pity…
I agree, O’Malley has to make something happen. The other day he was on twitter crying about being at a disadvantage, and I told him when Barack was running he wasn’t crying about anything. He put his head down and went to work. Powder-puffs, all of them, I got a pimple on my ass and its about to burst can we call off the debate.
Most Excellent ….
Woooot!
Chips & Nerdy, I have created a post from Don’s very insightful comment above. It is in drafts. Pls post when you think best.
Children’s Book Showing Slaves Happily Baking a Cake is Just Another Attempt to Rewrite America’s Shameful History
A Birthday Cake for George Washington makes it seem as though an enslaved father and daughter were perfectly fine with being oppressed.
BY: DEMETRIA LUCAS D’OYLEY
Posted: Jan. 17 2016 4:49 AM
I learned about Scholastic’s new children’s book, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, when a friend emailed me on Friday to ask, “Uh … have you seen this [expletive]?” Her note was accompanied by the book’s back cover, which depicted an illustration of a smiling enslaved man and child, accompanied by their beaming master—America’s first president, George Washington. Washington had his arm around the enslaved man’s shoulder like they were bros instead of oppressor and oppressed.
My knee-jerk reaction was a string of expletives as I tried to process this level of disrespect. Can you imagine a modern-day American publisher pushing a book about a cheery Jewish father and daughter on a trivial mission to bake a cake for the birthday of, say, an SS guard at Auschwitz? Can you picture a children’s book depicting a Jewish dad and child at a concentration camp snuggled up and cozy with Hitler?
Never! So why is it somehow OK to show enslaved black folks practically cuddling with their oppressors?
Riyrah, I was just reading different articles about that book, incredible.
they seem bound and determined to whitewash and lessen the TRUTH about our history.
One post that Coates did was about the slave that escaped to New England, and the relentless pursuit by Washington to try and get her back into slavery. Forgot her name, but I loved that piece.
” Father of our country indeed. “
Unbelievable. In my second grade class we are beginning of history unit. I have many picture books covering the time before the Civil War up through the Civil rights movement. The first one I read, More Let Me Fly, is the (fictional) story of an African girl captured and sold into slavery. It is difficult, heartbreaking, to read and does not have a happy upbeat ending. I try to leave no doubt about how awful slavery was and do not hide the fact that summer of our Founding Fathers were slave holders themselves. There are so many rich resources for children that portray the truth of this struggle with honesty on a level children can handle. I share many stories of famous and ordinary people who bravely retained their humanity while subject to inhuman conditions. We also talk about conditions right up through to the election of our president. Some books are fiction, some factual. I have many biographies of African Americans in all areas. These books are integrated throughout the year. Their are so many voices of hatred and division speaking into the ears of these children, I feel it’s imperative to help them understand as much of this history as I can to “vaccinated” them against the lies they will hear from other sources through their lives. In the process I have learned a lot myself. I learned about the Negro Motorist’s Green Book by reading”Ruth and the Green Book” to my class and about the first black cowboy, Nat Love. I try to show them that black people have been a integral part of our country from the beginning, contributing ideas, inventions, and hard work in every area of our society and continuing to our economy in ways that are rarely if ever acknowledged. It makes me so angry that this new book, with the imprimatur of Scholastic on it will be read by so many teachers who will carelessly, cluelessly perpetuate this flawed picture.
Sorry if this comes off sounding pompous.
https://twitter.com/nasa/status/688820842910863361
BWA HA HA HA H AH HA HA HA
He does it in tweets….HILARIOUS
…………………………………….
I Went to Bikram Yoga and Here’s What Happened (Hint: It Was Horrible)
I now know that I can survive Navy SEAL training after making it 20 minutes in a Bikram/hot-yoga class.
BY: STEPHEN A. CROCKETT JR.
Posted: Jan. 17 2016 3:00 AM
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/01/i_went_to_bikram_yoga_and_here_s_what_happened_hint_it_was_horrible.html?wpisrc=mostpopular
The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You’re a Trump Supporter
And it’s not gender, age, income, race or religion.
By Matthew MacWilliams
1/17/2016
If I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated?
You’d be wrong.
Story Continued Below
In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.
But Trump doesn’t speak about shrinking the government down and drowning it in a bathtub like the other candidates.
Aloha TOD!
Here’s a handy link I just picked up from Sam Wang’s website, with all the fiddlybits on primaries and caucuses and delegates.
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/ccad.phtml
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2016/01/17/the-clintons-and-african-americans/
Anyone seen or heard from GoBrooklyn lately? Hope she is doing ok