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Another gem by Jacqueline OBoomer
The Great Emancipator
Mocked and vilified in life
Stares down from his portrait
At the new President’s wife
My dear Mr. Lincoln
As you look down from on high
May we present Mrs. Obama
With a tear in our eye
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President Barack Obama visits the Dubliner, an Irish pub in Washington, D.C., with his Irish cousin, Henry Healy, center, and Ollie Hayes, a pub owner in Moneygall, Ireland, right, on St. Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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When it seems like the world is whirling too much in a maelstrom, one needs to stand back, take a breath, and laugh.
“HISHE” is the Youtube sensation “How It Should Have Ended”. They’re short animation clips which present alternate—and more logical—endings for Hollywood blockbusters.
So, without further ado, it’s time for the funny.
(FYI, there are spoilers in these clips, so if you haven’t seen the movies and still want to see them, don’t play the clips.)
“Oblivion”
This is what the GOP wants to shutdown the gov’t for: pic.twitter.com/6qihNumFbq
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
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GOP have decided to extort the President of the United States with the threat of shutting down the government unless Obamacare is defunded
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
Anyone trying to destroy the gov’t by shutting it down does not have the best interest of the United States at heart. This is thuggery.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
In 2 weeks, Health Care exchanges open. Uninsured can now buy inexpensive healthcare coverage because of free market competition. Obamacare
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
Obamacare was an idea by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative “think tank”. Now conservatives want to disown it because Obama started it
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
Best definition I heard all day:”Black-tracking” – Changing your long-held position because President Obama agrees with you.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) September 18, 2013
Esteemed NBC White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd caused quite a furor this morning.
Speaking on Morning Joe, he said quite openly what many of us have just assumed to be the truth by virtue of careful observation: that it’s not the media’s job to correct misinformation and falsehoods. He made this comment in relation to the Obamacare debate, saying that the GOP has been better at “messaging”—i.e. getting the media to repeat its lies ad nauseam—while the Obama administration and Democrats have failed to make their case.
Confronted with significant pushback on Twitter, he had this to say:
Oh no! He was “trolled”, because someone—actually, several someones—called into question why he even has the job of “journalist” if he’s saying that it isn’t his job to fulfill a journalist’s prime responsibility, which is to give his readers/viewers/listeners accurate information about the world around them.
Continue reading ‘More adventures in our failed media experiment: Part 1,382’
Sept. 7, 2012: “The President and Vice President share a laugh before a campaign rally together in Portsmouth, N.H.” (Pete Souza)
(Almost) A Year Ago: President Obama greets the Children’s Miracle Network Champions in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 19, 2012 (Pete Souza)
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Today (all times Eastern)
10:45: President Obama delivers remarks to members of the Business Roundtable and answers questions
Live at NBC – Audio only at WH Live
11:15: Jay Carney briefs the press
11:30: VP Biden meets with U.S. participants in the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue in the Roosevelt Room
3:30: The President and VP meet with Secretary of the Treasury Lew
4:15: The President and VP meet with Secretary of State Kerry
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USA Today: Obama’s day: Business Roundtable
President Obama spends Wednesday trying to recruit new backers in his budget battles with congressional Republicans: Corporate executives.
Obama meets with members of the Business Roundtable as the White House and Congress face the prospects of a government shutdown and another standoff over the debt ceiling.
The White House says Obama will ask the business leaders to talk to congressional Republicans “to grow the economy, create jobs, and not reverse the progress we’ve made by shutting down the government or threatening to force the United States to default on the bills it has already racked up and owes.”
More here
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BREAKING: US builders break ground on most single-family homes in 6 months, seek most permits in 5 years.
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 18, 2013
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Steve Benen: Boehner moves closer to government shutdown
Some problems are so complex and difficult, they’re nearly impossible to solve. Avoiding a government shutdown isn’t one of them.
After his far-right members vetoed his preferred solution, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) could have very easily reached out to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), put some modest enticements on the table, and picked up plenty of votes to approve a stop-gap spending measure. The whole thing could have been wrapped up in an afternoon, and the media would have cheered Boehner for constructive, bipartisan governing.
But that’s not what the laughably weak Speaker is inclined to do….
More here
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FACT: Our auto industry is creating jobs at the fastest pace in 15 years. More than 340,000 new jobs since June ’09: pic.twitter.com/ITfLaHpRyO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 17, 2013
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~@msnbc, @TheReidReport is one of the few people on your channel that I still trust. Renew her contract & #GiveJoyADailyShow. {Please RT!}
— April (@ReignOfApril) September 18, 2013
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Spandan (The People’s View): Health Reform in Action: 6 in 10 Uninsured Eligible Obamacare Premiums Under $100
Exactly zero of the right wing red-hot-siren warnings about shooting health insurance costs (“rate shock”) has panned out, but plenty of rate shock has been received on the other end of the scale – with tons of people shocked to find checks from their insurance companies in their mailboxes, rates reduced for their children with pre-existing conditions, and outrageously inexpensive rates in the state exchanges about to open in less than two weeks.
And here comes another: of the people who are eligible for either Medicaid or premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, six out of 10 Americans currently uninsured will be able to get coverage for $100 or less per month.
More here
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@Jordan44: For GOP, is yielding to this fringe viewpoint of undermining #Obamacare really worth recklessly hurting the economy?
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Steve Benen: ‘This is about political cash, not political principle’
Brian Walsh, a former spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, recently offered his take on why far-right groups like Heritage Action and the Senate Conservatives Fund keep Republican activists so riled up about the Affordable Care Act: “[T]his is about political cash, not political principle…. You see, money begets TV ads which begets even more money for these groups’ personal coffers.”
According to Walsh, who knows the internal workings of GOP politics quite well, conservative activist organizations are effectively waging a political war because political wars make for a convenient fundraising tool.
More here
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ThinkProgress: Latest Obamacare Lie Claims Doctors Will Be Forced To Ask Patients About Their Sexual History
In a New York Post op-ed, the inventor of the death panels lie, Betsy McCaughey, now claims that the Affordable Care Act is turning “doctors into government agents” by having them ask patients about their sex history. “Obamacare will question your sex life,” the headline says, and the issue has gained traction among conservatives. For example, Media Matters notes how Fox and Friends has amplified McCaughey’s argument, claiming that “doctors will be forced to ask patients about their sex life, even if it has nothing to do with the medical treatment that they are seeking at the time.”
But the questions McCaughey finds so outrageous are already routine physician practice…
More here
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Today, Obama extended minimum wage & overtime protections to home health care workers like Pauline Beck: http://t.co/qT1eyAZ1JO #PromiseKept
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 18, 2013
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Smartypants: FISA Court rules metadata collection constitutional
Today the Obama administration declassified another FISA Court ruling. This is a big one. In it, the court ruled that the NSA collection of metadata is constitutional…..
…. Given that a headline like the one I’ve used here doesn’t attract the kind of linkbait you get from saying “The government is illegally spying on you!” it will be interesting to see how many media outlets report on this story.
Full post here
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Greg Sargent: GOP climate skeptics to hold hearing on climate science
Did you know House Republicans are planning a hearing on climate science for [today]? It’s true — and it should provide a useful glimpse into whether Republicans are prepared to start caring publicly about the issue, and if so, how they’ll go about doing that given the climate science denialists in their ranks.
…. Gina McCarthy, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, will be testifying. She is already something of a lightning rod, so this is legitimately a big deal: House Republicans will probably be signaling how they will respond when the EPA rolls out its new rules governing carbon emissions on new power plans, a central item on Obama’s agenda that is going to provoke a huge fight…
More here
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Live on C-Span at 10:15 AM EDT
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Steve Benen: Congress targets Obama’s climate agenda
It’s been about three months since President Obama unveiled a fairly ambitious agenda to combat the climate crisis, and in the immediate aftermath, Republicans had very little to say about it. Indeed, Politico reported in June that GOP leaders came up with a game plan: ignore the speech, ignore global warming, and generally ignore science altogether.
That approach will change today….
More here
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One man’s “reacting to a negative event by suggesting practical action to prevent its recurrence” is another man’s “politicizing a tragedy”.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) September 16, 2013
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ThinkProgress: Following Navy Yard Shooting, Top Donor Threatens To Withhold Donations From Democrats Who Opposed Background Checks
A philanthropist who has donated millions to gun safety causes and groups is urging donors to withhold their support from Democrats who oppose gun safety regulations, following Monday’s shooting at Washington’s Navy Yard.
“Each time large-scale gun violence strikes our country—at a workplace, a movie theater, a political rally, or most devastating of all, at a school—a public debate about gun laws ensues,” Eli Broad, who has also funded some of the Center for American Progress’ gun work, wrote in a dairy for the Daily Kos on Tuesday. “Then, Congress promises action. But every time, our elected officials fail to deliver.”
More here
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TPM: Starbucks: Please Keep Guns Out Of Our Stores
In an open letter Tuesday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz asked customers to “no longer bring firearms” into the chain’s stores or outdoor seating areas.
Schultz wrote that it had been the company’s policy to follow local laws. In states with so-called “open carry” laws, customers were permitted to bring firearms into stores.
But that policy inadvertently thrust Starbucks into the debate over “open carry” and recent events have prompted the company to shift course. Pro-gun advocates staged a “Starbucks Appreciation Day” last month to commend the company for its position on “open carry.” Schultz wrote that those advocates “disingenuously” portrayed the company as a “champion of ‘open carry.'”
More here
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Aug 7: Aaron Alexis hears voices, calls police Sept 15: Alexis buys shotgun, shells Sept 16: Alexis goes on rampage http://t.co/f8VGOuRMAG
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 17, 2013
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Dealbook: Inspired by Professor, Investor Makes Big Gift for Black Studies
Just over 10 years ago, the private equity mogul Glenn Hutchins was on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. With his 25th Harvard College reunion near, he was thinking about how to put some of his wealth to good use.
One afternoon, clad in a T-shirt and board shorts, he stopped at an old whaling chapel, where Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent professor of African and African-American studies at Harvard, was leading a symposium.
That encounter gave Mr. Hutchins his cause.
Since then, Mr. Hutchins has strengthened his connection to Mr. Gates and the Harvard program. Their bond will become stronger on Wednesday, when Mr. Hutchins is expected to announce a gift of more than $15 million to create the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research, solidifying Harvard’s program as one of the top in its field.
More here
Thank you CarolDuhart!
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A nu way 2 identify t-party members: Have Obama come out supporting use of toilet paper. By next day, the odor will reveal who is in T-party
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 18, 2013
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Ah, memories – a year ago today:
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Washington Post: Wendy Davis prepares to launch Texas gubernatorial bid next month
Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) is almost ready to announce her gubernatorial bid – but first she will expand her social network just a little bit more.
In an e-mail sent to her supporters Wednesday morning, Davis – who garnered national attention this summer for fighting a sweeping antiabortion bill in her state – wrote she will be “answering the question” of what’s next for her career on Oct. 3. But before making her formal announcement, she posed a question of her own: “Do you have any friends or family who would like to be among the first to know?
More here
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I blame Obama.
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) September 18, 2013
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MoooOOOooorning, Happy Wednesday!
On This Day: President Barack Obama reacts to a photograph during an interview with David Letterman during a taping of the “Late Show with David Letterman” at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2012 (Pete Souza)
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MooooOOOOoooorning Early Birds!
Obama White House.gov WH Tumblr The People’s View Smartypants Steve Benen
The Obama Diary 
The President and First Lady’s Day
Tags: business, children, comment, dakota, food, Michelle, Obama, photos, President, remarks, roundtable, text, video
Text of the President’s remarks here
…. introduced by Boeing CEO James McNerney
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Text of the First Lady’s remarks here
First Lady Michelle Obama speaks on food marketing to children at an event in the State Dinning Room at the White House
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In case you missed it in the comments today, a beautiful story from Dakota:
Good Afternoon TOD Family.
Off the topic at hand, but I have been trying to post this uplifting story all day keep getting interrupted by less important things like…work and a stupid fire drill with a loudly blasting horn, that SOME folks didn’t seem to think applied to them!!! Anyway, now that’s off my chest…here’s my story.
I work for a hospice company and one of duties is supervising home health aides. All of our aides must be certified and are paid at a higher rate, so the good news about minimum wage and overtime protection doesn’t really apply to them. Whenever we get a new client, an entire team is at their disposal, aides, doctor, nurses, volunteers if desired, social worker and a chaplin. We actually have two chaplins.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our chaplins, whose office is right next to mine put up a photo of President Obama. It’s the one in front of the capitol building when he was campaigning in 2008. Now, I was surprised at this because not only are we not supposed to to talk politics in the office (HA! Just about all of the people who work in this office are PBO supporters), but the owners of our company are religious right-wingers who have held fundraisers for our rethug governor. Now to be fair, the CEO has always been very supportive of me and I do appreciate that. Last Wednesday, she came to our office because we finally had this stupid audit that they’ve been driving us nuts with it for a year! Well, wouldn’t ya know she parks her stuff right in the chaplin’s office right in front of this 8×10 photo of the President on her desk! I thought to myself, “Oh, shit,” but nothing was said.
Turns out that the chaplin, who is female, was instrumental in starting a hospice in Honolulu, HI…the very same one that took care of the President’s grandmother. The photo is a copy of one that was given to the hospice aide and signed by the President. The inscription reads “Thank you for taking such good care of my Tutu. Barack Obama.” Someone at the hospice, sent the photo to the chaplin a long time ago, but she decided she was going bring it into the office and keep it on her desk. Her feeling is that this is was a wonderful tribute to hospice workers and that no one would dare part their lips to complain and no one has. I really like this chaplin…she’s a sweetheart.
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We’ll catch up with newsie stuff in the morning – for now, chat away!
PS Huuuuuuge thanks again to LL for today’s wonderful post.