First Lady Michelle Obama smiles as she answers questions during the White House’s annual “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day,” in the East Room
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First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Charlotte Bell, 10, who gave the First Lady her father’s resume and said he had been out of work for three years
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AP: First Lady Gets Resume From Girl With Jobless Dad
Michelle Obama’s annual question-and-answer session with the children of Executive Office employees has taken a somber turn. A young girl in the front row at Thursday’s event told the first lady that her dad had been out of work for three years. Then the girl popped up to hand Mrs. Obama her dad’s resume.
Then Mrs. Obama explained to the other children, who might not have heard the girl’s comment, that it was a private matter but the girl was “doing something for her dad.” Mrs. Obama promised to deal with the matter later. When the event ended, Mrs. Obama gave the girl a hug and then reached back to grab the resume off a table as she left the East Room.
More here
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The Obama Diary 
Good afternoon!
Good afternoon JC! WTG on first. Hotel must be empty, eh?
Yes, for now, PTL – Ha!
Better get some air, eh? 😆
Good idea. Air! It’s a beautiful thing. 🙂
Yupper!
Love these images, NW! Love how FLOTUS handled the “private” matter with the young girl who hugged her.
JOB, that little girl brought tears to my eyes. Imagine how much courage it took for her to do that and how much trust she had in our First Lady. Very few FLOTUSEs would have handled the situation that well–they would have asked her to wait or shuffled her off to an aide. I’m willing to bet that a lot of strings are going to be pulled to get that girl’s father a job.
Yes, jackieG, it was wonderful. Imagine how much that girl loves her dad, and wants his happiness as much as I’m pretty sure he wants her to be happy!
I hope the rest of the story remains private, and that we don’t really find out what strings were pulled. It was pure innocence in view, and I loved it.
Jacquelineoboomer, that moment just opened up the tear bucket(I have had a couple of the buckets for the last two weeks near my space).
Our First Lady was so graceful in handling that private moment for that precious little young lady. It hurts so much when we see these moments, but knowing POTUS and FLOTUS, wisdom will be used to the best of their collective abilities.
May we keep that little precious young lady in our thoughts, compassionate loving praying and care. HZ
Beautifully said, HZ. We are so lucky to witness all this, yes?
Congrats on 1st Jacqeline.
The photo and story of the young girl is really touching, to say the least! Thank you for posting it, NW.
Thanks, Bob!
Also thought the VP tweet was touching!
Indeed it is!
Timely …
RT with pleasure, Bobfr!
Thank you Judith!
Our Michelle is fabulous in every way! Love this story and pictures. Thanks for posting, and congratulations to JB on #!.
Thanks, Judith, and I agree on our Michelle’s loveliness!
I agree Judith Fardig.
That’s what I assumed when I heard that he had nice things to say about “Spanish” people.
Our Ambassador to Ukraine Geoff Pyatt RT’d this ….
He’s quite active on Twitter and frequently RTs others, something more officials, with Twitter accounts, should do.
#FORWARD Together
Cliven needs to read his State’s Constitution. From the Nevada Constitution: “the Paramount Allegiance of every citizen is due to the Federal Government ” … “whensoever any portion of the States … forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.”
Good for Harry Reid for pointing this out. Every Democrat in Congress should tweet about this law breaking racist, who was fully supported by high ranking Republicans and Faux Noise.
Our EPA Administrator is making the rounds, talking to the best and brightest in the next generation, about climate change.
I love again another great EPA Administrator. We are blessed to have her. HZ
She’s another gung-ho Obama choice!
“Shattering the night silence, explosions and gunfire rang out early on April 24 in the eastern city of Artemivsk, Donetsk Oblast as armed pro-Russian insurgents attempted to seize a military base that houses some 20 to 30 tanks and a cache of weapons.
Ukrainian forces repelled the 2 a.m. attack by a group of some 70 to 100 rebels who were armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, the country’s Ministry of Defense and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov reported. Hand grenades were used by the rebels in the assault, the Defense Ministry said.
Avakov said the group was led by a man with “an extensive beard,” hinting at pro-Russian separatist Alexander Mozhaev, who has been seen colluding with insurgents in the nearby city of Sloviansk. There, separatists have seized the city’s security services and administration buildings and taken several journalists hostage.
Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement that the attackers in Artemivsk sustained a “heavy” but unspecified number of casualties during the failed assault on the military installation on Chaikovskoho Street. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian soldier was “lightly wounded.””
Link in the tweet.
These are acts of war, period.
Yes, they are, Bob, and I’m very glad to see Ukrainians repel them for now, at least. I sure hope this galvanizes western nations to turn the pressure up on sanctions.
Agree, Jackie. My hope is that shortly after the President begins his day, in a couple of hours, he announces new, extensive sanctions.
Love those tweets — so truthful.
Another truth teller.
Beyond their being pro-slavery racists ….
If Cliven Bundy is a hateful racists, what does that make those who are sticking up for him?
Birds of a feather … and all that ….
Right On Bobfr. Birds of a feather, flock together.
Back to Japan, for just a moment…
Saw the links that 99ts and Rikyrah posted on the previous thread, then saw this photo in @jimacostacnn’s timeline, thus this tweet.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer with the MSM/Koch working themselves into a frenzy defending the Cliven Bundy wing of the GOP and with NO “scandals” for them to report on (scandalabra, aka IRS, AP leaks, Benghazi, is so last year).
Gird your loins for even more egregious lying by MSM/Koch (their worst nightmare is for Dems to control both houses of Congres).
Maybe he can get PBO to autograph that for him……..just sign it WTF !
OMG, the freakin’ American press are beyond help. LOVE LOVE LOVE the expression on POTUS’ face.
I think the First Lady handle this Kansas graduation thing with the same grace and dignity that she and POTUS have always handle the B.S. they have had to deal with from those kind of people.
Yes, AB, she handled it perfectly. She certainly has enough people clamoring to see her not to waste her time where she’s not wanted. And you know what? I hope that Kansas school can’t get anybody better than a local used car salesman at that graduation. May it be the most humdrum, tedious event of all time that everyone will forget the minute they leave.
Pls update me. What did she say?
here ya’ go, zizi:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/204285-michelle-obama-scraps-graduation-speech-after-protests#.U1lTnhnoeh8.twitter
p.s. fk kansas
Very sorry to hear this. I was hoping that the protesters would get some sense and realize that Mrs. Obama was doing them a huge favor by speaking at their HS graduation.
Oh well. Their loss.
One more thing, I have had enough of Dana Milbank, he is a first class jackass. He is just like Chucky Todd, Ed Henry, Jonathan Karl, Ezra Klein. Nothing.
And at MSNBC they can’t get enough of him.
Keith Olbermann brought him on and later banned him from his show. Now MSNBC can’t seem to get enough of him. Being crude, cruel, vicious and totally an arse is what his Yale or Harvard law degree bought him? The guy is inadequate.
Rev. Al does the same thing, he need to kept Milbank off his show.
It was true then and its still true today.
They also had shoes and fine clothes too. 😦
I’m glad to see that Bundy is an unrepentant racist. No wonder Republicans found him to be so irresistible.
Greetings TOD family
We had an ACA celebration / Planning session at my house last night.
25 folks showed up, some regular volunteers and a few who worked in 2012 and were now ready to jump back in.
Here is the summary of the meeting, it conveys my pride at what our team accomplished and my enthusiasm about our prospects for 2014
————
We had a wonderful time our ACA celebration and planning meeting last night. It was “standing room” only in my family room with over 25 folks in attendance.
I wanted to share a brief overview of what we discussed.
1. ACA enrollment numbers
2. What OFA can and cannot due in the 2014 elections
3. Welcome Back Alumni
ACA ENROLLMENT
NATIONWIDE
8M on exchanges
3M young adults on parents plan
3M on Medicaid
5M non-exchange plans
19M TOTAL
CA
1,395,929 Covered CA
1,100,000 Medical
These are truly impressive numbers that will continue to grow – remember Medicaid enrollment is open all year long. Also if you have a “change of life situation” such as a divorce, job change or move to a new state you can enroll on the exchanges.
LOCAL OFA EVENTS
TIMELINE – We began in March 2013 by tabling outside of Safeway to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of the passing of the Affordable Care Act. We ended mid April 2014, as we continued to call folks who had contacted Enroll America. The last 2 weeks of March we offered 3-4 events per week – tabling, canvassing, phone banking.
EVENTS
22 tabling events
12 neighborhood canvasses
2 Trainings – Overview of ACA and Health Care for the Holidays
Phone Banking
Recruitment for Health Care for the Holiday
Enroll America
SEIU – Home Health Care Workers
Meetings and Town Halls – Congressman Thomspon’s ACA Outreach Townhalls in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park
ACA Planning Meetings at my house
WHAT OFA CAN AND CANNOT DO IN THE 2014 ELECTIONS
Because we are a 501C3, OFA is not able to work directly for any specific candidate, or register folks to vote.
OFA can make calls into district to inform voters on their Congressman’s position on issues such Immigration, Climate Change, Equal Pay for Women, and Gun Violence Prevention.
Our OFA team will be dramatically scaling back the number of events we offer. We will probably hold 2 events per month in areas such as phone banking, training, and team building.
Since many of our members would like to help Democrats win in November, many of us will be taking off our OFA hats and volunteering for specific Democratic camapigns in November. We will also be working to register voters in local elections, and work on campaigns for local races such as City Council and County Supervisors.
WELCOME BACK ALUMNI
Some of the folks who attended last nights meeting had worked on the 2012 election and had taken a well deserved rest to recharge and fire up. A few expressed regret at not having done more for ACA. For those folks who are reading this note and wishing they could have attended an ACA outreach event, I have a simple message.
There is still time to make a difference.
Onward…
WIW….Thank you for this update and for all the hard work that you and your team do.
It’s supporters like you who will pull us through to our big win in 2014 …Senate and House.
Thank You, Thank you, Thank you for all you do!
Standing Ovationnnnnnnnnn……
Co-signed and clapping!
WIW – it is thrilling to hear your positive report. I’m glad the national media ignores us for the most part. We fly under their radar and get stuff done for the President’s issues. Thank you!!!
🍸
🍸
🍸
Thank You.
You are a FORCE, Linda!!!!
Thank you!!!
#FORWARD Together
Good for you for all the hard work you’ve put in to support the ACA and this President.
Important …
“The leading candidate for the Ukrainian presidency, former Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko, visited Israel over the weekend and met with President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Poroshenko told Lieberman he expected Israel to clearly declare support for maintaining the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which Israel has refrained from doing since the beginning of the crisis.
Poroshenko arrived in Israel secretly last Thursday for a very low-profile, private visit of a few days. He did not make his arrival public, and both the President’s Office and the Israeli Foreign Ministry kept quiet about the visit. It was not until after his return to Ukraine on Monday night that Poroshenko reported on his visit.
Poroshenko met separately on Friday with Peres and Lieberman in Jerusalem, discussing both the Ukrainian presidential elections, scheduled for May 25, and the crisis with Russia.
“During a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Petro Poroshenko expressed hope that the Israeli side will give clear signals in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Poroshenko’s office said in a statement. In his meetings with Peres and Lieberman, Poroshenko asked Israel to help the Ukrainian security forces in their war against terror. ”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.586684
Well that puts Romney’s BFF in an awkward position…..
I wish we knew the Israeli response. Supporting Ukraine in this time is the moral thing for Israel to do. Otherwise, it risks being a pariah on the world stage along with Russia. I frankly don’t understand the game Netanyahu is playing in this.
The word is ‘occupation’
Jackie, I think the reality is that Tzar Vlad would call him a hypocrite if Bibi publicly condemns Russia illegal occupation of Crimea and efforts to instigate an excuse to occupy additional Ukrainian sovereign territory. Bibi’s got that little occupation problem of his own. Bibi knows Israel can handle Assad and Iran if it needs to, but the West Bank and Gaza situation undermines him condemning Putin.
This press conference by this backward nut job is unreal!!
Hey who is the token black guy? Sorry, I cannot bear to listen or watch that train wreck……
And so it begins… Next, it will be a hospital, airport, face on a dollar bill, and a bridge. What else am I missing? I can’t wait to see the Republican heads explode the day President Obama face is featured on a dollar bill. I have a feeling it’s going to happen.
Absolutely! We would NEVER see these in circulation, they would be the utmost collectible! Haven’t the stomach to comment on this deplorable and divisive affair in Nevada, don’t want to add to the energy it’s picking up. I do not mind, however, seeing all the ensuing bedlam it will cause for certain ‘groups’, and I’m certain the fall out will be devastating and long lasting. The tide continues to turn ~ may the tsunami sweep the darkness aside for eternity.
HHHaahahaa! You make a great point. Who would want to spend them?
So funny, we had the same idea, at about the same time, but I posted it in response on twitter. I didn’t have enough space, but they should make it so it could appreciate in value, etc. etc. I bet anything they’d be sold out so fast, even if they had a premium on them!
It’s perfect, meta.
Only Dead POTUS are on our Currency.
So No. I don’t want pres Obama on any Green Back.
I kid.
Streets, highways (I still cringe every time I have to drive on Ronald Reagan Pkwy), parks, fellowships/scholarships, professorships, college dorms, post offices, federal administration bldgs, courthouses…
Not such a good thing since it’s going to be on the North side of Chicago. Not too many people of color up there. PBO lives and worked on the Southside.-smh
Latest from the Special OSCE Monitoring Mission in Ukraine – based on information received up until 23 April 2014, 19:00 (Kyiv time)
http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b11aceda364f8f9afa6cadbbb&id=3a3726bf9e&e=97d3b684f9
Overall, support for the separatists is way less than Tzar Vlad portrays.
Great tweet! Cruz should be on there too though.
REMINDER!!
what channel is this
NBC
Thanks Meta
NBC
thank you
It’s not surprising. Most people that don’t live in the mid-west have no idea what The Great Lakes are.
I am very proud of my state!
Fantastic, Donna, I salute Maryland!
near the site of the former Cabrini-Greene housing project where I once worked–way back in the day–first job out of college. I could write a book. Cabrini has been demolished and rightfully so—–it was a bad idea.
Thank God!!
Meta, I hope he changes his mind and stays. It’s going to impossible to get someone else approved and there is really no one else like him.
I’m in total agreement. He is a magnificent AG. One of a kind.
Totally agree, Jackie! Holder has been exemplary.
I wasn’t aware that he was thinking of stepping down before 2016. Sad to hear. He’s a great AG.
Not surprising at all. Racists have been having sex with Black women for centuries. Just ask Strom Thurmond’s biracial daughter.
But this is like Cold Medina……….remember that song?
Stop it Jer.
Are you serious? Really???? smdh!
But…but…Justice John Roberts would like you to know racism is dead.
In response to the tweet of the Japanese state dinner menu (ice cream in the shape of Mt Fuji)
😀
That my friends, says it all about Fox.
Propaganda Machine and the right hand political tool of the GOP.
Fox put Hannity on The Five today so they could all shower him with love about his lifelong fight against racism in America…
They covered him from his early days in San Diago all the way to Alabama……and his fighting the Klan.
haahahhahaha
And, But, Oh…..his best friend is “The Negro”, right?
What lifelong fight against racism? Why haven’t I heard of this before?
/snark.
And he just luuuvs him some Jeremiah Wright…….NOT!
Linda left this quote on last post- it’s worth repeating…
“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
― Abraham Lincoln
I mean, seriously!
Rev. Al has that Dana Milbank on his show right now and I turn the tv, I will not watch Milbank anymore.
Thanks, Linda.
I am so angry I could spit!…the insults to the First Family….be it the Kansas High School to the First Lady or a CNN reporter toward PBO..and SCOTUS…the highest court in the land….talking racist BS about the plight of America’s Blk citizens…so weary …so weary…..i want carve up these RED states and their backward…racist folks .along with their supporters..and send them somewhere…away from here…let them fend for themselves,,,,,, who would they have to hate then…
It’s hard but I’ve decided to channel my anger into organizing and getting as many people to the polls all over this country as possible this year. I heard on the radio yesterday that Dems are inspired to vote for two reasons. We vote for “hope” and we vote out of “anger”. Well they have gotten me Fired Up with their blatant racism and disrespect so I know how to fix their butts. They will feel our wrath come this November!!!
It is like a knife thru my heart…but …
Yes….PBO said…don’t get mad…ORGANIZE!!…
#ForwardTogether>>
Indeed donna. Our most powerful weapon is our vote, and no “petition” from Kansas or ignorant pundiotry from the media can take that away from us.
Secretary Kerry is going OFF on Russia right now. Wow.
http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
Over now.
Here’s the video, meta …
“About 30 percent of the personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine were agents of the Russian Security Service (FSB) and Russian Military Intelligence Agency (GRU), said Mykola Sungurovskiy, the director of military programs at the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies, named after Oleksandr Razumkov. He made this statement during an espreso.tv broadcast.
clip
General Oleksandr Skipalskiy, ex-deputy head of the SBU, had previously said that the Ukrainian Security Service is full of Russian agents. Skipalskiy revealed in June 2010 that the Ukrainian SBU and Russian FSB had signed a protocol on cooperation. This protocol allowed Russian special services to conduct intelligence and subversion activities, using their legal status in Ukraine, to penetrate into the activities of other state services and to organize public events. Since that time, the FSB has tried to do everything possible to ensure that Ukraine would not conduct its own security policy and would act solely in the interests of Russia.”
Link: http://euromaidanpr.com/2014/04/24/30-of-ukrainian-sbu-officers-were-russian-fsb-and-gru-agents/#more-7653
Talk about the ‘enemy within’ …. this is one of the key reasons NATO was very reluctant to consider Ukraine as a member and has been an impediment in the past several weeks to improving intelligence sharing between the US/NATO and Ukraine. It appears the later is being improved as was indicated during acting President Turchynov’s press conference with VP Biden.
Anybody else see the clip that’s referred to here?
This evening, Ukraine time, Ukraine’s acting President delivered this blunt statement of fact and strength …
“Address of Acting President, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov to compatriots
Dear compatriots!
Terrorists who have taken the whole Donetsk region as hostages have crossed the line of humanity long ago. Armed criminals seize administrative buildings, take citizens as hostages, particularly Ukrainian and foreign journalists, torture and kill patriots of Ukraine.
Given real danger and necessity to protect people, we have resumed counterterrorist operation that is being systemically and gradually implemented in order to fully localize terrorist threat and protect peaceful citizens of our country.
At the same time, the Russian Federation coordinates and openly supports armed killers-terrorists in Eastern Ukraine. Having no grounds, Russian government allows itself intruding into the internal affairs of Ukraine impertinently.
Russia supports terrorism in our country at the state level in times when Russian citizens regularly suffer from terrorist attacks on their territory. Wars, terrorist attacks, regional separatism are well-known Russian problems that Russia tries to artificially transfer to Ukraine.
Moreover, after successful steps of Ukrainian security forces in combating terrorism, Russia has moved from public threats to demonstrative concentration of the Armed Forces along the eastern border of our country. There is a deployment and increase of the number of units that have been posing a threat for the security of our country for a long time already.
I would like to emphasize that we will not yield to the threat of terrorism and continue to take measures to protect the life of our citizens.
We demand from the Russian Federation to cease their intervention into the internal affairs of Ukraine, terminate constant threats and blackmail and withdraw their troops from the eastern border of our country.
Keeping calm and confident, we will protect our country, its sovereignty and integrity together.
God is with us, truth is with us, Ukraine is with us.”
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/30297.html
These are admirable people.
Looks like @nycjim is taking a page out of @NerdyWonka’s playbook and livetweeting excerpts from John Kerrys speech this afternoon:
My fav:
Indeed, Arapaho 🙂
Thank you for posting these.
Video is not posted @ State Dept, but they’ve tweeted several of SOS Kerry’s statements:
.@JohnKerry: One truth that cannot be ignored → the world will remain #UnitedForUkraine. The window to change course is closing.
.@JohnKerry: Let me clear – If #Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake but an expensive mistake.
.@JohnKerry: The world has rightly judged that #Ukraine’s gov’t has been working in good faith; #Russia has put its faith in distraction.
.@JohnKerry: Let’s get real → The Geneva Agreement is not open to interpretation. It is not vague. It is not optional. #Ukraine
Hard for me to imagine that the President will not soon be announcing truly harsh, comprehensive sanctions and other measures.
Chat away:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/24/chat-away-359/
Please keep Attorney General Eric Holder close to your goodness of thoughts with beautiful prayers. His work is so important for our nation, and President Obama’s Administration needs this great AG. Lift up Dr. Sharon Malone Holder in your thoughts and prayers as well. This is a very sensitive situation for them, however, Dr. Sharon Malone Holder has been through many moments where great strength and courage in decisions making concerning her family.
We need AG Holder, but knowing him, he will do what is best for his country with great thoughts put into any decision he will make on this issue. Let us keep him in our daily meditational prayers and thoughts. This is very personal for me, and I know he will do the best thing that he can regarding any of this talk about his staying on or leaving. Just keep the prayers for the best in your hearts, please. HZ