Dr. King at #EmanuelAME. #HistoricBlackChurch #CivilRightsMovement #CharlestonShooting http://t.co/Iu3ihGjQ2V
— The King Center (@TheKingCenter) June 18, 2025
Charleston's Emanuel A.M.E. Church was once burned to the ground for its connection with a thwarted slave revolt. wpo.st/A93M0
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 18, 2025
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Watch as the media reduces 200 years of black church bombings, burnings, and shootings into "one isolated gunman". #CharlestonShooting
— Mark Provost (@markaprovost) June 18, 2025
The #AMEShooting was an act of domestic terrorism. It should be treated with all of the urgency that term implies. http://t.co/WVjLw0nEsg
— Joshua DuBois (@joshuadubois) June 18, 2025
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“Mother Emanuel” A.M.E. Church History
The history of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church reflects the development of religious institutions for African Americans in Charleston. Dating back to the fall of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Richard Allen founded the Free African Society, adhering to the Doctrines of Methodism established by John Wesley. In 1816, black members of Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal church withdrew over disputed burial ground, and under the leadership of Morris Brown. The Rev. Morris Brown organized a church of persons of color and sought to have it affiliated with Allen’s church. Three churches arose under the Free African Society and were named the “Bethel Circuit”. One of the Circuit churches was located in the suburbs of Ansonborough, Hampstead, and Cow Alley, now known as Philadelphia Alley in the French Quarters of Charleston. Emanuel’s congregation grew out of the Hampstead Church, located at Reid and Hanover Streets.
A white Southerner spoke this after the '63 church bombing. They sear after #AMEShooting. Via theatln.tc/1kwUrjx http://t.co/GD973Yls7D
— Miss Packnett (@MsPackyetti) June 18, 2025
Racism is taught. Perpetuated. Learned. It is a cancerous root. It controls a society. It chokes.
Are you guilty?
theatln.tc/1kwUrjx
— Miss Packnett (@MsPackyetti) June 18, 2025
In 1822 the church was investigated for its involvement with a planned slave revolt. Denmark Vesey, one of the church’s founders, organized a major slave uprising in Charleston. Vesey was raised in slavery in the Virgin Islands among newly imported Africans. He was the personal servant of slavetrader Captain Joseph Vesey, who settled in Charleston in 1783. Beginning in December 1821, Vesey began to organize a slave rebellion, but authorities were informed of the plot before it could take place. The plot created mass hysteria throughout the Carolinas and the South. Brown, suspected but never convicted of knowledge of the plot, went north to Philadelphia where he eventually became the second bishop of the AME denomination.
Governor who flies Confederate flag at SC capitol says "we’ll never understand what motivates" #Charleston massacre: gu.com/p/49qkx/stw#bl…
— Chase Madar (@ChMadar) June 18, 2025
We are dishonest about present acts of terrorism against black people in America because we are dishonest about our past. #AMEShooting
— Ryan Dalton (@capetownbrown) June 18, 2025
During the Vesey controversy, the AME church was burned. Worship services continued after the church was rebuilt until 1834 when all black churches were outlawed. The congregation continued the tradition of the African church by worshipping underground until 1865 when it was formally reorganized, and the name Emanuel was adopted, meaning “God with us”. The wooden two-story church that was built on the present site in 1872 was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of August 31, 1886. The present edifice was completed in 1891 under the pastorate of the Rev. L. Ruffin Nichols. The magnificent brick structure with encircling marble panels was restored, redecorated and stuccoed during the years of 1949-51 under the leadership of the Rev. Frank R. Veal. The bodies of the Rev. Nichols and his wife were exhumed and entomed in the base of the steeple so that they may forever be with the Emanuel that they helped to nurture.
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This is why people are outraged, frustrated, and disgusted by what Rachel Dolezal did and continues to do. Blackness is not a goddamned costume. You can’t wash away Blackness when the day is over. Blackness is trying to navigate a world where you could be murdered at any time because of the color of your skin. If you aren’t disgusted or turned off by what she did, there is something fundamentally wrong with you
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This has been a rotten week for black people.
So was last week.
And the week before.
And...
You see where this is going...
— Miss Packnett (@MsPackyetti) June 18, 2025
#BREAKING- Reports: #Charleston shooter said,"You rape our women and are taking over our country & you have to go."Report coming on @NBCDFW
— Eric King (@EricKingNBC5) June 18, 2025
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They welcomed this white man into their safe space & and he got up & turned his guns on them. American history in a nutshell. #AMEShooting
Children wave at President Barack Obama’s motorcade as he visits Phoenix on Jan. 8
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People wait in line to get into Central High School in Phoenix to see President Obama speak
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President Barack Obama speaks about housing and home ownership and announces a cut in mortgage insurance premiums on Federal Housing Administration loans, at Central High School in Phoenix
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President Obama, joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro speaks outside a home in a housing development in Phoenix
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BREAKING: Watch President Obama announce his #FreeCommunityCollege proposal → go.wh.gov/comm-college vine.co/v/Op6YEKWLOXP
— David Simas (@Simas44) January 08, 2025
RT to share the news: President Obama just announced his #FreeCommunityCollege proposal → go.wh.gov/comm-college http://t.co/ORNWhcMAYt
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 08, 2025
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President Obama, joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, left, and Chicanos Por La Causa’s Edmundo Hidalgo, right, and David Adame, speaks outside a home in a housing development in Phoenix
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The FHA reduction in premiums will help borrowers save an average of $900 annually over the next three years. http://t.co/B728Oz9RfL
— Julián Castro (@SecretaryCastro) January 08, 2025
American home values have gone ↑ for 3 years.
See how President Obama's helping homeowners: go.wh.gov/housing http://t.co/iR8ocEkxOX
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 08, 2025
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(Doug Mills)
A woman is surprised when she runs into President Barack Obama in her neighborhood
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"Today, home sales are up nearly 50% from where they were in the worst of the crisis." —President #ObamaInPhoenix http://t.co/bmJTRzlCc9
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 08, 2025
"I’m going to take a new action to help even more responsible families...buy their first new home." —#ObamaInPhoenix http://t.co/uimNuUIeYH
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 08, 2025
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@dougmillsnyt: President Obama board Air Force One in AZ, for his trip back the Washington.
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President Barack Obama signs a condolences book during a visit to the French Embassy
President Obama stands with France’s Ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud as he pays his respects over the attack at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, during a visit to the French Embassy in Washington
President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House. President Obama met with Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and spoke on the gunmen attack at the office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.
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President Barack Obama approaches Marine One on the snow covered South Lawn prior to his departure from the White House
President Barack Obama, accompanied by 89th Airlift Wing Commander Col. John Millard, smiles as they walk on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
President Barack Obama, followed by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., as they arrive on Air Force One at Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport in Detroit
President Barack Obama speaks at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., about the resurgent American automotive and manufacturing sector
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Ford plant manager, Phillip Calhoun, President Barack Obama, Mark Fields, president and CEO of Ford, and Bill Ford eye a new mustang at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant
REI Chief Executive Officer Sally Jewell is congratulated by outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar after she was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next Secretary of the Interior
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O……..kay:
Syracuse.com: It didn’t take long for a Connecticut toymaker to hop on the news that President Barack Obama enjoys skeet shooting at Camp David.
The company, Herobuilders.com, is selling its “Skeet Shooting Obama Action Figure” through its website. The first 1,000 customers to order will get a special price, $19.95, according to the site.
More here
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President Obama travels aboard Marine One from Annapolis, Md., en route to the White House, Feb. 6 (Photo by Pete Souza)
Shortlisted for a Sony World Photography Award: President Barack Obama speaks in the rain during a campaign rally in Glen Allen, Virginia, July 17, 2012. Photo by Brooks Kraft
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Today:
1:15 ET: The President will deliver remarks at the White House calling on Congress to pass a short-term budget package that would delay automatic, across-the-board cuts known as the sequester
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USA Today: President Obama will seek to build support for another ambitious agenda item - a major immigration bill - on Tuesday when he meets with labor and business leaders at the White House.
…. “… the president will hold meetings at the White House with labor leaders and progressive leaders, as well as a number of CEOs from across industries, to discuss his commitment to getting a bipartisan bill passed in 2013, and how immigration reform fits within his broader agenda for economic growth and competitiveness,” a White House statement said.
More here
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This morning, Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden met with U.S. Embassy staff and families in London. Afterwards, the Vice President visited 10 Downing Street for meetings with British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Prime Minister David Cameron.
This afternoon, the Vice President will attend a meeting of the United Kingdom National Security Council. In the evening, he and Dr. Biden will depart London en route Washington, DC.
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Eugene Robinson: The moment that most deserves to be remembered from Sunday’s thrilling Super Bowl came before the game, when Jennifer Hudson joined students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in singing “America the Beautiful.” It was a heart-rending elegy for the fallen — and a stirring call to action.
…. It was a reminder that life goes on but also that we must not lose sight of unfinished business: reducing the awful toll that barely regulated, insufficiently monitored commerce in powerful weapons takes on innocent victims, day after day after day.
Despite the best efforts of the NRA and like-minded groups to make sure this business remains unfinished, reducing gun violence remains stubbornly high on the nation’s agenda. This is partly due to the ravings of Wayne LaPierre …. who almost single-handedly, or single-mouthedly, is making the pro-gun argument sound even crazier and more irresponsible than it is. And that’s saying something.
More here
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ThinkProgress: What We Can Learn From Minneapolis’ Progressive Approach To Reducing Gun Violence
Monday afternoon, President Obama [delivered] his first speech on a tour promoting his plan to reduce gun violence in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The choice of location is anything but accidental: Minneapolis has, in recent years, developed a progressive, highly effective approach to gun violence prevention that has seen firearm crime plummet.
More here
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Trayvon Martin would have been 18 today. Rest in peace.
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Three years ago today: President Barack Obama greets a young visitor in the Oval Office, Feb. 5, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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“…. unless you’re a secretly gay married Muslim bulldozing Reagan” …. love it.
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ThinkProgress: Eight Senators on Monday voted not to consider the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that protects victims of domestic violence. The Senators who voted against moving to debate on the bill were: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tim Scott (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Rand Paul (R-KY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and James Risch (R-ID)
More here
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Wow, this is one hard-hitting toon:
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Steve Benen: In its decision last year on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court majority ruled that Medicaid expansion can proceed, but it must be entirely optional for states. Almost immediately, right-wing groups delivered a stern message to Republican governors: to accept expansion would be an outrageous betrayal of conservative principles.
Some GOP governors are doing it anyway, and yesterday, Ohio’s John Kasich joined the group….
More here
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ThinkProgress
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ThinkProgress
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Steve Benen: We’ve no doubt had plenty of Supreme Court justices who’ve been widely recognized, and some who’ve kept a relatively high public profile, but I can’t remember the last time a sitting justice reached a level of celebrity on par with Sonia Sotomayor.
…. The NYT piece is a fascinating read, largely because I can’t think of a modern judge who can illicit the kind of reactions Sotomayor is currently receiving….
Reading about these public receptions, I kept thinking back to Sotomayor’s 2009 confirmation process, and the ugliness of some of the criticisms she received from the right …. Given her popularity, I wonder how many of them would care to explain their opposition to Sotomayor’s confirmation now?
Full post here
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Charles Pierce: I guess I’m supposed to be rolling around in schadenfreude at the news that Karl Rove has found a new brand of cheap aluminum siding to sell to the rubes and suckers of what is laughingly referred to as the Republican Establishment. It seems that the money boys are getting tired of losing winnable Senate races because the Help keeps hiring candidates out of the Chronic ward, so Karl’s going to (reluctantly) take their money this time to teach them how to craft winning campaigns on the general theme of Ix-Nay on the Apey-ray. That the Republican party actually should need to pay someone to explain this to its candidates is a measure of a rather more systemic problem. That the feral children in the wilder precincts are birthing cows all over the landscape is entertaining as all hell, but it doesn’t move us any greater distance along toward the day when we once again will have two sane political parties.
More here
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USPS
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LA Times: Jon Favreau’s career took off when, at age 23, he interrupted U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama during a speech rehearsal to offer some suggestions for improvement.
That cheeky move led to a seven-year tour as Obama’s lead speechwriter, an assignment that ends March 1 as Favreau considers trying his hand at another form of drama — as a screenwriter, perhaps in Los Angeles.
More here
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Four years ago today: President Obama wears a AF1 jacket on his first flight aboard Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base to Newport News, Va., Feb. 5. 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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>> House GOP's Latest Plan To Stop Obama's Iran Deal: Sue Him! @TPM http://t.co/eLr4cIqO6J— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 10, 2025 C […]">Open thread - Done and dusted Liberal Librarian
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