A recap of a most fantastic three days. First, the Obamas departed America for Europe
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Then they arrived in Belfast
President Obama, the First Lady and their daughters Sasha and Malia are greeted by Joan Christie, the Queen’s official representative in Northern Ireland, upon their arrival at Belfast International Airport
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Then Pres. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama delivered fantastic remarks!
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Let’s not forget fabulous Hannah Nelson who introduced the First Lady!
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Then it was off to Trinity College, Dublin for the First Lady and the First Daughters
First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia with Dr Patrick Prendergast, President and Provost of Trinity College Dublin, during their visit to view the Book of Kells and archives documenting the Obama’s Irish ancestry
Whoa….we really really are Irish? Where did the missing apostrophe in “Obama” fly off to?
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Meanwhile, Pres. Obama set off to hone his painting skills
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Yay! The task is done….I have mad painting skills!
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Woohooo….it’s Riverdance time!
Moya Dohery of Riverdance, the Taoiseach’s wife Fionnuala Kenny and Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D Higgins at a special Riverdance performance at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin
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Then it was on to Wicklow Mountains National Park and a tour of the fantastic Glendalough monastic site
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Then this happened to George McClafferty…..swoon! The power of First Lady Michelle Obama
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Then it was off to lunch with Bono aka rocker with the 24/7 shades and 60 local Irish residents
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Meanwhile in Belfast, Pres. Obama went to take his 2013 G8 Family Picture
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Then he showed the Irish the definition of SWAGGER!
with PM Cameron and Taoiseach Kenny
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Then he got down to business
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And at the end of the Irish leg of the trip, we all felt this way…. “It will stay with me forever”
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Then it was on to Germany!
Where it was all smiles as they arrived.
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Where flowers were presented to a blooming rose
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And a sweet moment was captured
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Then it was off to Bellevue Palace for the President
President Barack Obama waves to the media while walking with German President Joachim Gauck at Bellevue Palace
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Then a meeting with Chancellor Merkel
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Which proceeded to a press conference
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Meanwhile, First Lady Michelle Obama, First Daughters, and Auma Obama went to learn about the past
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Meanwhile, Pres. Obama was delivering a historic speech at the Brandenburg Gate
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Meanwhile, FLOTUS and Co. continued their historical tour
First Lady Michelle Obama, with her daughters Malia and Sasha, Auma Obama, and German Chancellor’s husband Joachim Sauer visit the Berlin Wall memorial at Bernauer Strasse on June 19, 2013 in Berlin, Germany.
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Then it was off to dinner!….red carpet style
First Lady Michelle Obama, U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer attend the dinner given in honour of President Obama at the Orangerie of Schloss Charlottenburg palace on June 19, 2013 in Berlin, Germany.
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Then it was bye bye Germany….we’re on our way America!
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See all posts from the Ireland trip here – and the Germany posts here
The Obama Diary 
FIRST – doggone it! 🙂
Congrats HP!!!!
Thank you my dear! And please do not confuse me with the Huffington Post (HP). 🙂 I am THE one & only Hopefruit2. Thus I am HF, and not HP. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Oh my HF!!!!! I am soooo sorry!
LOL! No worries layla. And congrats on snagging the silver medal.
hello
deux
okay. Third. But I’m in great company. Congrats, hopefruit & Layla.
Hey 57, there are deux deuxiemes!
Thanks 57!
A very special thank you to UT for doing such a marvelous job of keeping us abreast of our President and First Family’s action-packed trip to Ireland and Germany. This couldn’t have been an easy task – especially noting the time zone difference, but as usual, you made it seem like child’s play. Chips has to be proud of you mini blog tyrant AKA NerdyWonka !! And so are we! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much Hopefruit. Yeah…the time difference will do a number on ya but it was all worth it! 😀
ut, this has been such an incredible adventure! For the life of me I do not know how you do this. You are just simply brilliant!
Thanks for the kind words.
THIS
Denise Coleman @HawaiiDelilah 5m
@JeffersonObama Agreed; he is treated like the clean up guy after an 8 year mess; the critics don’t miss opportunity to say “missed a spot”
Retweeted by Jeff Gauvin
View conversation
Andrew Wallenstein @awallenstein 10m
HBO has confirmed the death of ‘The Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini. Developing…
Retweeted by Jeff Gauvin
They think that he suffered a heart attack in Italy..so very sad.
HBO confirmed it……………oh it’s very sad……
May he RIP. He was only 51. 😦
Vince Flynn, a writer very popular with my patrons, just died as well, of prostate cancer, aged 47. Definitely making me think on mortality.
Oh my…yes, 47 IS too young to leave this earth. May he RIP also.
Larry Kudlow who lives in Connecticut has spent the last half hour sitting in his New York studio with Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) agreeing with him why businesses should leave the NE and move to Texas. Kudlow did not mention the factory explosion in Texas. The business press is also shameless.
Thank you utaustinliberal!
You’re welcome!
I was crying before I even clicked the link… thanks so much for finding that video snippet of Glendalough. {{{George McClafferty}}} he’s so sweet.
RIP James Gandolfini….
Of course they love our beloved First Family. They just need to understand that they were on loan and that they belong to us.
Beautiful recap UT.
When do you sleep?
Anyone hear from GB today
Yep. She’s on twitter. As fierce as ever. 😀
Good1 I just love her!
Best show ever.
My heart goes out to his family. They must be devastated to lose him at such an early age.
There are some hot looking babes running around my Gym tonight. Yummy!
Want me to take a picture for you guys ?
go for it!
UT, can’t express how grateful I am to you and Chips for all you have done these past three days to enable all of us to experience the intensity and substance of the President & First Family’s visit to Ireland & Germany. Thank you.
Also hope that all of you see this video and do what you can to be sure many others see it …
#FORWARD Together
Thanks Bob.
We could use more of this every day, several times a day.
So: which of our stars are going to match this fellow
in schooling the media? They now have a model,
and they have gazillions of opportunities. And this
needs to happen. awesome. Russell Brand. yes.
Really didn’t know anything about Russell Brand (other than he’s Katy Perry’s ex), but he was just amazing in this set.
We need more of his ilk, with his gumption on our airwaves!
Thank you so very much…UT….you did an outstanding job…offering more than just pictures and videos…but a whole other side to PBOs important trip to the G8 summit than the one that MSM presented to the American people…..
and I am so grateful
Thank you.
Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been sentenced to jail in Italy for one year and eight months for tax evasion.
They were accused of hiding millions of euros from Italian tax authorities.
The pair, whose customers have included Madonna, Kate Moss and Kylie Minogue, were not at the trial, deny the charges and have appealed.
Dolce and Gabbana have not commented on their sentences, which have been suspended pending their appeal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22977174
Good for them.
UT, what a completely wonderful post, rounding up a majestic day’s posting by you – can never, ever, ever thank you enough!
Thank you so much Chiparoo; for the opportunity to do this and the help. You’re fantastic!
As always, anytime my friend! 😀
“Thank you so much Chiparoo; for the opportunity”
See, there you go again! Thanking me for asking you to do all the work today – that ain’t right 😆
This kills me, can’t believe I’m posting it, but go on….. you deserve it:
🙄
AGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! THE DADDY IS BACK!!! THE MASTER IS BACK!!!!!!!!! Gooooooooooo Chelsea! Gooooooo BLUES!
As if I couldn’t love Jose more, he’s pissed off the sanctimonious pricks of Barca—Pique and Iniesta. They’re blaming him for firing up Madrid for the Classicos, which has “caused dissension” on the Spanish national team.
But they’re probably right, LL!
Meh, Barcelona. Then again, meh, La Liga. A league of two teams.
That’s still better than England, a league of one team.
/runs
Hah! Keep talking, Moyes-girl.
Oh crikey, I have to get used to that: Moyes-girl 😕
Okay, now that the trip is over, a HUGE thank you to Chips and UT for the coverage that our MSM couldn’t seem to muster. As I’ve been saying for a few years now, we have to be our own media.
Thanks LL.
Thank you LL, and thanks again to UT for all today’s beautiful work.
I’ve been avoiding 99% of the hair-on-fire, MSM bullcrap the last few days, too busy enjoying the lovely trip, but back to reality tomorrow. Gulp.
I too have taken a break. Like I said yesterday, sometimes the stupid gets to be too much. But I do have an essay percolating in my noggin.
The Book of Kells is at the Trinity College Library, Dublin. Here’s the animated Chi Rho monogram from the movie, The Secret of Kells (which premiered at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival):
Thank you Ireland!
And thank you for sharing all of this!
🙂
James Gandolfini dead, and yet Dick Cheney keeps procuring hearts.
I just heard that LL, I could cry!
Don’t get me started.
OMG, I’m stunned. He was an icon who played a complex character to the hilt. RIP.
thedick cheney, war criminal doesn’t have a heart. Some donor’s heart may unfortunately be keeping him alive, but that’s all.
I havent read all the comments but have you seen this complementary discussion and photos of Sasha and Melia?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2344434/First-Daughters-Malia-Sasha-Obama-blossom-young-adults-step-prominent-role-mom-dads-official-trip-Europe.html
Hiya Snowbird, warning to everyone, that’s a RW British hate rag, the comments there are usually racist beyond belief, so be warned.
Wow. Excellent coverage UT. I was gone all day, but I don’t feel like I’ve missed anything.
Ooh I didnt even look at the comments, I never do but I loved the photos. sorry
Next month, the last telegram in the world will be sent when India’s state-owned telecom company shuts its telegraph service.
Today “telegraphese” – saying as much as possible in the fewest words – has a new home in the Twittersphere.
What is thought to be the first telegram – What hath God wrought – was sent in 1844 in Morse Code over an experimental line from Washington to Baltimore. In 1929, more than 200m telegrams were sent around the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-22953657
There a bit of nostalgic outcry here. It was a part of our life and mostly, it a telegram was source of terror until it was opened sinc only deaths were reported via telegram.
When I did my pre-univ, I was staying in college hostel when our state got caught in massive flooding due to heavy rains. My hostel was 200 miles south of my home and the city I was staying in was the worst hit. I was marooned in my hostel along with others for over 3 days with no food or water. The only communication was through ‘trunk calls’ via landlines, which of course was completed disrupted through out the state. I managed to scrounge some money and took a bus to the city, which is the state capital 400 miles north, since all other roads were marooned. My parents were desperate to know my fate but my hometown was also cut off.
After a 12-hour nightmarish bus journey passing through half-flooded state highway, I finally reached my aunt’s home in the capital city. She was equally surprised and delighted. Urged me to let my parents know that I am ok.
So, I sent a telegram (which only one open miraculously) saying SAFE AT MADRAS.
Got back a reply from my dad: STAY AT MADRAS.
Unforgettable moment of my life. 🙂
I got back to my Jesuit college after 3 weeks (they still have permanently marked “highest flood level reached on ….” in the college walls).
And then promptly caught cholera. Yay, 4 more weeks of holidays 🙂
But did you have “love in the time of cholera”? 😆
Tweeted. Fascinating story all-round. Happy you made it safely and got well!
Thank you, n. Yes, I made it safely … to the utter dismay of some.:D.
Good for you!
Wow, Amk. What an adventure! Your parents must have been frantic. I know I would be if I lost touch with my son in a situation like that.
My parents claimed that the worst 3 days of their lives. But I don’t believe them. I’ve given them sufficient and better nightmares.
This is a bit off-topic, but I’m just alerting my fellow TODers for something that may be coming down the pipeline from the paranoid anti-Obama left. By now many of you may have heard of Buzzfeed writer, Michael Hastings who died in a car accident yesterday morning.
I don’t know a great deal about him as a person, but I do know that he was one of the more vocal pro-Greenwald, pro-Snowden ones on Twitter, who lashed out at anyone who questioned Snowden’s motives or were generally skeptical of the Snowden/Greenwald NSA story. In fact, he blocked some of us TODers (including Chips, I believe), referring to us derisively as “Obamabots” or “trolls.” His Twitter account wallpaper suggests a general contempt for PBO.
Now it appears that some of Hastings colleagues (many of whom are virulent, anti-Obama emoprogs), e.g., Cenk Ugyur, are pushing the paranoid theory that Hasting’s death wasn’t accidental but was probably ordained by the FBI (implicating PBO of course), because Hastings was working on a story about some “journalist” by the name of Barrett Brown who was jailed unfairly due to data from PRISM/NSA spying, etc.
Wikileaks tweeted earlier that Hastings contacted a lawyer a few hrs before he died, stating that the FBI was investigating him. I don’t know how true or accurate this report is, but if it’s true, there’s some serious off-the wall paranoia going on among a certain segment of the left.
So don’t be surprised, if the news media readily picks up this theory floating around and makes it into a meme – that Obama’s FBI killed Buzzfeed Journalist, and that journalists will be killed by Obama if they dare oppose him. The media ran with the birth certificate meme. There’s no low that they will not stoop to. So we will be prepared to push back. Just saying…
Jesus effing Christ, they really DO believe we’re in a fascist police state which offs its critics. Were they this paranoid during Shrub’s years in office? Probably not, as most of them were Republicans then. (Not that they’re not now, but they can’t claim to be, as it’s not a good business model.)
You know Hopefruit, the minute I read about his death I suspected this was coming, which confirms the view that the Greenwald Cultists are no different to the Breitbart crew – PBO murdered our guy!!! I’m actually almost enjoying it now, the more they display their deranged ‘Obama Hate’, the more they reveal themselves.
Indeed. Many of Greenwald’s minions are disillusioned misfits, usually suffering from some untreated depressive disorder. Many of them are also entitled privileged brats who never learned to cope with “real life” problems and resort to blaming others when things don’t go as they think they should. Many of them also were silent, or willingly participated in the misdeeds of the previous administration, and can’t be angry at themselves and the folks who were in charge at the time, so instead they misdirect their anger at the current President/administration.
People like Greenwald exploit these young men – and gin up their hatred for PBO, which ultimately destroys them. I have a suspicion that Hastings committed suicide. A TODer who is familiar with the site of car crash alluded to that possibility yesterday. It’s possible (my speculation) that Hastings realized that the Snowden story which he had eagerly and obsessively hitched himself to, was going no where – FAST. Remember this was the day after Snowden made a fool of himself with that online Q & A nonsense. Add all of that to unresolved grieving/anger from the death of Hasting’s fiance in the Iraq war, along with a sense of self-righteous narcissism and impulsivity and you have a recipe for self-destruction.
This event reminds me somewhat of the Aaron Shwarz suicide – it has similar elements. A young (emotionally unstable), and typically white, male who decides he is ready to “fight the power,” and attaches himself to a “cause, ” usually not any cause that is grounded in concrete human suffering or disadvantage, but some abstract situation in which “civil liberties” could potentially be threatened…That young man is receptive to paranoid rantings of extremists’ of either kind, left wing or right wing ideologues and becomes increasingly unhinged as his paranoia is fueled by certain types like Greenwald, Brietbart, Beck, et al. (who have their own nasty agenda).
Yes…I just read about that. Chaz at Daily Banter pushes back.
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/06/no-the-government-didnt-kill-michael-hastings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=no-the-government-didnt-kill-michael-hastings&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Placing blame where blame is due …
Love Nancy Giles! And (at least from my POV) she’s getting more and more outspoken about the RWNJs.
Well Nancy my prayer is 2014 we really give that sorry speaker something to cry about. When he have to hand that gravel back over to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Make that Speaker-for-Life Pelosi! 🙂
🙂 Look at us!
I see a twitter war has broken out between man u and chelsea fan(atic)s. / smh
And as usual, United are winning 😎
Hahahahaha….in your dreams. You really need to lay off this ——>
Well, come on amk. It’s not like the Confederations Cup is worth watching, and August is 2 months away.
Live & breathe
firefutbol, 24×7, eh?I wish I recorded my phone conversation today with my computer-fixing man, you’d have loved it. He confirmed that, yes, my hard drive has deceased – “sooooo many bad sectors!!!”, or something like that?? – so I asked if it was worth fixing, seeing as it’s 6 years old.
“Well, maybe no, maybe yes, it could die again in a week, but I say – go for it!”
😕
I felt so reassured.
6-year old ‘puter ??? Ok, lady, you need a brand new, shiny mac.
I’ll chip in. Are you with me TOD’ers?
Ha, NOOOOOOO!!! I will NOT give up on my baby, when we made our vows, it was forever! 😆
You know, when it was taken away (Confession: I still had the packaging, so wrapped it lovingly before departure), I felt almost tearful – and my desk looks so empty.
Okay, I’m weird, I know.
Ok. You’re weird. You’re a man u fan. But then, I repeat myself.
But happily, United’s hard drive didn’t fail last season. See what I did there?
/smh.
Hahahaha. You are so weird. Your hard drive is like the squirrel on Rooney’s head. One electrical hit and BOOM! It begins to fizzle.
I can’t figure out who/what should be more offended: my hard drive, the squirrel or Wayne.
UT? You know all those loving things I said about you earlier? WITHDRAWN!!!!
So this make TeaNN (CNN) look like the piece of crap it has become.
The usual crap,…..they are predictable
My Two Cents on a Topic from the Last Thread………..
On Presidential Elections and the Realities of Aging
It’s a well known fact that the greatest wetdream of the the PUMAS is to have Hillary run for president in 2016. Today, Hillary Clinton in 66. In the heat of a presidential election, Hillary would be 69/70 years old. I would not vote for her and I’m pretty sure that many other Americans wouldn’t either based simply on that fact. I believe she would easily lose to her younger more charismatic counterpart. Gone are the days when a presidential candidate’s advanced age could be looked upon as a positive because it signified wisdom and strength of character. The American presidency is brutal, it demands youth and strength because it ages its bearers both quickly and aggressively, now more than ever as it attempts to keep with the changing world around it.
There’s an ever present thread of youth and vitality to this country, it recognized itself in PBO 5 years ago and embraced him wholeheartedly as the embodiment of itself. It inspired the young people and the young at heart to dream big dreams and reach out for what you wanted. With PBO, America wasn’t getting more of the same i.e.: Clinton, Bush. America was getting itself. Someone youthful, smart, wise, idealistic without being naive. America attached itself to Barack Obama, grew as he grew, and changed as he changed in his role as president. Voting for the old establishment is a thing of the past. It has no vitality, no creativity and people are sick to death of recycling: same shit, different packaging. That’s what Clinton would be: same bureaucratic bullshit, different Clinton. Voting for a 70 year old to man the helm of this vast, chaotic and demanding ship is crazy and many people won’t be able to support it– it wasn’t just Sarah that lost McCain the presidency, his age made him unattractive to most Americans. He didn’t start picking up steam until they added the Tundra Twit to the
tickerticket, and even then…..So let the PUMAS come out and attack PBO, their greatest wetdream/fantasy is never going to happen. —– And I haven’t even started in on her he HUGEST flaw/liability, her idiot husband. Hillary has often struck me as a rather intelligent woman. I think this whole running for president think was more her husband’s greatest desire. I don’t think he ever wanted to leave the WH and he’s always planned to go back. I hope Hillary takes the universal good will she currently enjoys and establishes some initiative she is passionate about and spends the rest of the time she’s been alloted on God’s green earth, reconnecting with her idiot husband, drawing closer to her beautiful daughter and dedicating her time to a cause she is passionate about. I wish her the very best. But I’m sick of her and her asshat husband. Goodbye, Hillary.
+1. At this stage of her career/political life, she deserves something better and something she wants to do, not what bill wants her to do.
I don’t know if it’s age per se, but what I want in the next POTUS is someone who is in crucial ways like PBO – a brilliant and compassionate human being who surrounds his or herself with the same caliber of people who are there to serve; someone who is very forward-thinking about strategy, policy and tactics; who understands technology thoroughly and its central place in our economy and our culture; someone who isn’t beholden to donors who have been pumping a lot of money out for 25 years; someone who understands what it means to be not only a woman but a person of color in this country; someone who does not rush to war in an age where the complexities are staggering and dangerous; someone who can run a campaign that is thoughtful, rigorous, inclusive and far-reaching.
So, no.
I want that too ,,,Meta,,,i hope that person emerges,,,,
This is also true Meta. I have talked of this in the past relating to a Hillary run. This time however, I chose to focus on age because I had come to realize just how old she is. Age is a big factor in the choices we make when it comes to leadership today. With all the information on cognitive ability, reasoning, etc in relation to age, it becomes part of the calculus when we think of who we want to keep us safe. In 2008, Hillary used this calculus in the reverse against PBO. She painted him as a naive man-child who’d never had serious ‘grown-up’ problems to deal with so how could he possibly deal with America’s difficulties i.e. the 3 am phone call. Instead, she asked America to look at her experience and age and infer the wisdom needed to get the job done. That calculus failed as Americans decided against her and went for the new blood, new ideas and the new, youthful face of America. Also, the reality is, being 70 at the start of a president’s first term is not desireable. think of PBO and all he did in his first term and continues to do. can you imagine a 70 year old doing that? Neither can most other people.
True enough. Thanks for you thoughts. I agree.
Lisa, as someone close to 70, I agree with you completely. I do not have the energy or acuity I had in earlier decades and more quickly tire during long, complex projects. I think there’s a part of Hillary Clinton that knows this about herself–she was exhausted much of the time as SOS, but she may be driven by others to push herself beyond her physical capacity. I hope she really takes time to consider her decision.
Amen! thanks JackieG!
As someone now over 70, Lisa is right on. I always operated full steam ahead and loved it, but let me tell you between 68 & 70, you just slow down! That’s all there is to it. I look back at what I used to do and ask myself: “How did I do it?” I was YOUNGER!!!
Age is enough reason for me not to vote for Hillary. The ideal age for the high pressure job of president is between 45 and 55.
Amen! The Clinton’s need to give up the ghost when it comes to the idea of returning to the WH.
Right On Lisaaaaa….
this is the Money Line….
Voting for the old establishment is a thing of the past. It has no vitality, no creativity and people are sick to death of recycling: same shit, different packaging…
BOOM!
Yes. HRC represents the old guard for me. What this country really, really needs is to continue on the path of innovation and CHANGE.
Only smart/ correct thing he’s ever said.
Howard Fineman @howardfineman 1m
Thanks to #Gandolfini, David Chase, other great actors and writers, #TonySoprano will live in memory as a quintessential American character.
Retweeted by Jeff Gauvin
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This is just the best place ever – TOD. Thanks so much for the photos, videos, comment section…just the best on the web!
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/06/19/night-owls-home-is-where-the-music-lives/
The TOD blog tyrant team has outdone themselves for the past 72 hours nonstop.
Am catching up now.
Echoing LibLib and others, our MSM doesn’t deserve whatever they get paid.
Gosh, I wonder what could be contributing to our President’s slight dip?
Aside from the fact the MSM is framing the #Snowden traitor story as “OMG” breaking news from 6 years ago, take a look at the NYT most read today. Could they POSSIBLY be more negative?
Ok, I’ll be nice for a change.
Both man u and chelsea fan(atic)s have been great in the past 3 days. Great coverage, great pics, great tweets. Thank you, ladies.
Ah, thank you Amk! (And, choke, to the Chelsea girl).
See, that wasn’t so hard, was it now ?
It was excruciating.
backslider.
Thank you very much UT 😀