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White House: Statement By The President On The Passing Of Maya Angelou
When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that “No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn.”
Today, Michelle and I join millions around the world in remembering one of the brightest lights of our time – a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman. Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things – an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer. But above all, she was a storyteller – and her greatest stories were true. A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking – but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves. In fact, she inspired my own mother to name my sister Maya.
Like so many others, Michelle and I will always cherish the time we were privileged to spend with Maya. With a kind word and a strong embrace, she had the ability to remind us that we are all God’s children; that we all have something to offer. And while Maya’s day may be done, we take comfort in knowing that her song will continue, “flung up to heaven” – and we celebrate the dawn that Maya Angelou helped bring.
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Rest in peace, Maya Angelou. pic.twitter.com/VFLwyhWK7p
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 28, 2014
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President Obama greets Buffalo Soldiers Louis Coffield, 96, left, and Sanders Matthews, 93, at Stewart Air Base in Newbrugh, N.Y. today
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Brent Logiurato: In 3 Big Slides Here’s Why Mary Meeker Is Optimistic About The Future Of American Healthcare
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker has released her latest annual presentation. In it, she gives a bullish take on the future of the U.S. healthcare system, saying it looks like it may be at an “inflection point.” Some recent reforms perpetrated by the Affordable Care Act, though, give her reason for optimism. More than 8 million people have gained coverage through insurance exchanges established by the law,
and she writes that the law is aiding the “digitization of healthcare — 84% of hospitals and academic or institutional practices are now using a fully functioning electronic health record (EHR) system. Digital health venture investments are up almost 40% year over year. Meeker is also bullish because of the emphasis of moving toward quality care over quantity. By 2015, 60% of employers will offer price-transparency tools in their healthcare plans, she writes.
More here
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NYT: Maya Angelou, Lyrical Witness Of The Jim Crow South, Dies At 86
Maya Angelou, the memoirist and poet whose landmark book of 1969, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — which describes in lyrical, unsparing prose her childhood in the Jim Crow South — was among the first autobiographies by a 20th-century black woman to reach a wide general readership, died on Wednesday in her home. She was 86 and lived in Winston-Salem, N.C. Long before that day, as she recounted in “Caged Bird” and its five sequels, she had already been a dancer, calypso singer, streetcar conductor, single mother, magazine editor in Cairo, administrative assistant in Ghana, official of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and friend or associate of some of the most eminent black Americans of the mid-20th century, including James Baldwin, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Afterward (her six-volume memoir takes her only to the age of 40), Ms. Angelou (pronounced AHN-zhe-lo) was a Tony-nominated stage actress; college professor (she was for many years the
(Dr. Maya Angelou reading a poem at the Million Man March in 1995)
Reynolds professor of American studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem); ubiquitous presence on the lecture circuit; frequent guest on television shows, from “Oprah” to “Sesame Street”; and subject of a string of scholarly studies. In February 2011, President Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. Throughout her writing, Ms. Angelou explored the concepts of personal identity and resilience through the multifaceted lens of race, sex, family, community and the collective past. As a whole, her work offered a cleareyed examination of the ways in which the socially marginalizing forces of racism and sexism played out at the level of the individual. “If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat,” Ms. Angelou wrote in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Hallmarks of Ms. Angelou’s prose style included a directness of voice that recalls African-American oral tradition and gives her work the quality of testimony. She was also intimately concerned with sensation, describing the world around her — be it Arkansas, San Francisco or the foreign cities in which she lived — with palpable feeling for its sights, sounds and smells.
More here
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Dr Angelou’s Final Tweet:
Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.
— Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) May 23, 2014
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Evan McMorris-Santoro: Obama: “American Influence Is Always Stronger When We Lead By Example
President Obama attempted to set a new course for American foreign policy Wednesday, laying out a plan for action on the world stage he said continues the country’s role as global superpower, but does so in a way that looks within before looking out. “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,” the president said in a prepared version of the commencement address he delivered at West Point. “But what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law; it’s our willingness to affirm them through our actions.” The president called on Congress to adopt the Law of The Sea convention, take action on climate change and close GITMO, efforts he said would go a long way to showing the world the United States practices what it preaches. The country’s number one threat “remains terrorism,” Obama said. But the changing nature of that threat means that the tools of the recent past should be scrapped, he added.
“A strategy that involves invading every country that harbors terrorist networks is naïve and unsustainable,” he said. “I believe we must shift our counter-terrorism strategy – drawing on the successes and shortcomings of our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan – to more effectively partner with countries where terrorist networks seek a foothold.” “Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead on the world stage. If we don’t, no one else will. The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership,” the president said. “But U.S. military action cannot be the only – or even primary – component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”
More here
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https://twitter.com/RodrigoEBR/status/471667928061214720
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Greg Sargent: Grimes Hits Back: On Obamcare, Mitch McConnell Is In “Fantasyland”
Ever since Mitch McConnell’s comically absurd evasions on Obamacare began gaining attention from the press, people have wondered whether Alison Lundergan Grimes would make them an issue. McConnell’s refusal to say what should happen to Kentucky Kynect — even as he continues to call for repeal of the ACA – allows Grimes to point out that McConnell’s position would take health coverage away from hundreds of thousands of constituents who are benefitting from it, and he won’t admit it. Now the Grimes campaign is finally hitting McConnell over his gyrations on the issue, accusing him of “voting to destroy Kynect.” From Grimes senior adviser Jonathan Hurst: Mitch McConnell has been in the fantasyland that is Washington for so long that he cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction. McConnell has voted to destroy Kynect — and he has said he will do it again. In the U.S. Senate, Alison Lundergan Grimes will fix the law to ensure it is working for all Kentuckians.
This seems somewhat defensive. It again leans heavily on a vow to “fix” the law, and doesn’t state flatly that Kynect is a policy success. Some Dems, such as Rep. John Yarmuth and pollster Celinda Lake, have suggested Grimes go further. Lake told me the other day that her polling has showed that Kynect polls positively in Kentucky, even as the law known as “Obamacare” or the “Affordable Care Act” remains under water. Lake suggests this to Grimes: “She could say, `In Kentucky, we got it right. I’ll take Kentucky values to Washington.”As Joe Sonka points out in a good piece, McConnell is betting that press coverage won’t clearly explain to voters just how absurd his position really is. But perhaps now that Grimes is engaging on the issue — to some degree, at least — that could serve as a hook for top shelf reporter and commentator types to take a peek at what’s really going on here.
More here
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Herald Leader: Say Again, Senator, ACA Unkynected?
Sen. Mitch McConnell has some explaining to do. What in the world did he mean last week when he told reporters that repeal of the Affordable Care Act — “root and branch,” as he has demanded many times — is “unconnected” to the future of Kynect, Kentucky’s health insurance exchange? Asked specifically if Kynect should be dismantled, McConnell said: “I think that’s unconnected to my comments about the overall question.” Huh? Nothing could be more connected — or should be more important to Kentucky’s senior senator — than the fates of the more than 400,000 Kentuckians who are getting health insurance, many for the first time, and the federal Affordable Care Act, which is making that possible. Repeal the federal law, which McConnell calls “Obamacare,” and the state exchange would collapse. Kynect could not survive without the ACA’s insurance reforms, including no longer allowing insurance companies to cancel policies when people get sick or deny them coverage because of pre-existing conditions,
as well as the provision ending lifetime limits on benefit payments. (Kentucky tried to enact such reforms in the 1990s and found out we were too small a market to do it alone.) Kentucky’s exchange also could not survive without the federal funding and tax credits that are helping 300,000 previously uninsured Kentuckians gain access to regular preventive medicine, including colonoscopies, mammograms and birth control without co-pays. As a result of a law that McConnell wants to repeal, one in 10 of his constituents no longer have to worry that an illness or injury will drive them into personal bankruptcy or a premature grave. Kynect is the Affordable Care Act is Obamacare — even if Kentuckians are confused about which is which. Kentuckians are waiting to learn if their five-term senator understands — or cares — how much is at stake.
More here
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Kimberly Kindy: Father Of Victim In Santa Barbara Shootings To Politicians: ‘I Don’t Care About Your Sympathy.’
Richard Martinez grew up around guns, shooting birds out of the fruit trees on his family’s farm. He later served as a military police officer in the U.S. Army before going on to become a criminal-defense lawyer, at times representing the young and the violent. Now, Martinez is a grieving father. He’s asking members of Congress to stop calling him to offer condolences but nothing more for the death of his only child, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, who was killed in the rampage Friday in Santa Barbara, Calif. “I don’t care about your sympathy. I don’t give a s— that you feel sorry for me,” Richard Martinez said during an extensive interview, his face flushed as tears rolled down. “Get to work and do something. I’ll tell the president the same thing if he calls me. Getting a call from a politician doesn’t impress me.”
Saying that “we are all to blame” for the death of his 20-year-old son, Martinez urged the public to join him in demanding “immediate action” from members of Congress and President Obama to curb gun violence by passing stricter gun-
control laws. “Today, I’m going to ask every person I can find to send a postcard to every politician they can think of with three words on it: ‘Not one more,’ ” he said Tuesday. “People are looking for something to do. I’m asking people to stand up for something. Enough is enough.” Martinez is the latest tragic figure to raise the mantle of gun control. Previous massacres and spasms of violence have produced urgent calls for new restrictions.
More here
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Laura Meckler: Some Democrats Talking Up Health Law
Democratic candidates have begun to take a more assertive stance on the Affordable Care Act, highlighting the most popular benefits of the law and attacking Republicans for trying to repeal them. Not long ago, many Democrats were in a defensive crouch when it came to health care, amid public anger about the botched rollout of the federal website to sign up for insurance and stories of people who lost existing coverage because it didn’t meet federal standards. Many focused on fixes they said should be made to the law rather than trying to convince voters of its benefits. Now, in at least half a dozen competitive Senate and gubernatorial races, Democrats and their allies are airing TV commercials that directly support the legislation, focusing on its guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions, preventive-care benefits and a ban on charging women more for insurance. In some cases, the ads talk up how the Democrat candidate has worked to guarantee these benefits; in others, they attack a Republican for wanting to take them away.
At a Senate hearing to consider the nomination of a new health secretary this month, Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who is in a tough re-election race, hailed the Medicaid expansion available under the act and criticized her state’s leadership for declining the federal money that would allow North Carolina to add a half million people to the program. “These are some of the most vulnerable citizens in our society who will continue to seek care in emergency rooms and then will leave chronic conditions unmanaged,” she said. In Florida, Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, running for governor, has fully embraced the law. “I don’t shy away from it. I don’t back away from it. I don’t apologize for it. It’s the right thing to do,” he said in April, according to the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.
More here
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AP: After Decades, Dirty Power Plant To Get Clean
Three years ago, the operators of one of the nation’s dirtiest coal-fired power plants warned of “immediate and devastating” consequences from the Obama administration’s push to clean up pollution from coal. Faced with cutting sulfur dioxide pollution blowing into downwind states by 80 percent in less than a year, lawyers for EME Homer City Generation L.P. sued the Environmental Protection Agency to block the rule, saying it would cause it grave harm and bring a painful spike in electricity bills. None of those dire predictions came to pass. Instead, the massive western Pennsylvania power plant is expected in a few years to turn from one of the worst polluters in the country to a model for how coal-fired power plants can slash pollution.
The latest regulation, the first proposal to curb earth-warming carbon dioxide from power plants, is due next week. But Homer City also shows how political and economic rhetoric sometimes doesn’t match reality. Despite claims by Republicans and industry critics that the Obama administration’s regulations will shut down coal-fired power plants, Homer City survived. The owners of the massive western Pennsylvania power plant — which releases more sulfur dioxide than any other power plant in the U.S. — have committed to install $750 million worth of pollution control equipment by 2016 that will make deeper cuts in sulfur than the rule it once opposed. Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the EPA’s rule in the case initiated by Homer City Generating Station. GE Energy Financial Services, the plant’s majority owner, now says it can do it — and without electricity bills increasing for the two million households it provides with power.
More here
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Julie Bosman: Chicago Mayor Proposes Restrictions On Gun Sales
Calling gun violence Chicago’s “most urgent problem,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel outlined a proposal on Tuesday that would make it harder to buy firearms in the city. The proposal would restrict gun purchases for individuals to one a month and would mandate that all gun sales be videotaped, an effort to deter buyers from using false identification. Under the proposed ordinance, employees in gun stores would be required to undergo background checks and complete training to help them spot the common signs of gun traffickers. Retailers would be subject to a quarterly audit of inventory in an effort to reduce theft.
In addition, the plan would impose a 72-hour waiting period to buy handguns and a 24-hour waiting period to buy rifles and shotguns. Mr. Emanuel has tried to tamp down violence in Chicago since taking office in 2011, pushing for tougher rules on gun retailers and stronger federal laws on firearms. Chicago’s rate of gun-related violence is three times that of New York. The report blamed states with weaker gun laws for most of the illegal guns in Chicago, saying that from 2009 to 2013, 60 percent of guns used to commit crimes in the city were originally bought out of state, mainly in Indiana, Mississippi and Wisconsin.
More here
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Washington Post: Michigan Hikes Minimum Wage, Led By GOP Governor Seeking Reelection
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed legislation Tuesday hiking his state’s minimum wage to $9.25 an hour over four years, dodging what could have been a political hurdle as he seeks re-election this year. Snyder had come under pressure from Democrats, led by his likely general election opponent, former representative Mark Schauer. He signed the wage increase one day before labor groups planned to turn in more than 300,000 signatures to get a minimum wage hike on November’s ballot. At a news conference Tuesday, Snyder sought to take some measure of credit for the increase.
Many Republicans in the legislature opposed the increase. A majority of House Republicans voted against the measure, though House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) helped shepherd it through to protect Snyder. All but two Democrats in each chamber voted for the increase, which also indexes the minimum wage to inflation. Several Republicans said they voted for the legislature’s version of the wage hike to avoid the possibility of a ballot initiative passing; the ballot initiative would have increased the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, for both regular and tipped-wage employees.
More here
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AP: Top US Commander: Obama Ended Afghan Uncertainty
The top U.S. and coalition commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that President Barack Obama’s decision to keep about 10,000 American troops in the country past 2014 has eliminated any uncertainty Afghans may have had about America’s commitment. Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters the decision will allow an advisory force of 9,800 troops to remain in the country to finish training and equipping Afghan security forces. “I believe that this decision was good news for the Afghan people,” Dunford said. “It eliminates the uncertainty about the future here in Afghanistan, in the region and within the coalition.” He added that it “also sends a message to those who said that Afghanistan would be abandoned at the end of the year and that simply isn’t true. “
Obama announced plans Tuesday for keeping nearly 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after this year, then quickly withdrawing nearly all of those forces by the end of 2016. NATO and other U.S. allies also are expected to commit troops, bringing the total to be around 12,000. Some American troops are also expected to play a counterterrorism role, chasing any elements of al-Qaida and other such groups still operating in Afghanistan. The commitment is conditional on Afghanistan’s government signing a stalled bilateral security agreement. While Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign it, both the candidates running to replace him — former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai — have said they will.
More here
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Tracy Connor: Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams The U.S. Stranded Him In Russia
Edward Snowden, in an exclusive interview with “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, blamed the State Department for stranding him in Russia, saying he “never intended” to wind up there. “I personally am surprised that I ended up here,” Snowden said in the interview, an excerpt of which aired on TODAY on Wednesday morning. “The reality is I never intended to end up in Russia,” he said. “I had a flight booked to Cuba onwards to Latin America and I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoke my passport and trap me in Moscow Airport. “So when people ask why are you in Russia, I say, ‘Please ask the State Department.” Secretary of State John Kerry hit back in a live interview on TODAY. “For a supposedly smart guy, that’s a pretty dumb answer, frankly,” Kerry said. “If Mr. Snowden wants to come back to the United States today, we’ll have him on a flight today.
“We’d be delighted for him to come back. He should come back. That’s what a patriot would do. A patriot would not run away and look for refuge in Russia or Cuba or some other country. A patriot would stand up in the United States and make his case to the American people,” Kerry added. “He can come home but he’s a fugitive from justice which is why he is not being permitted to fly around the world,” he said. Asked whether he had changed his mind about the nature of Snowden’s actions, Kerry said Snowden “stole” information and did “great damage” to the United States. “The fact is if he cares so much about America and he believes in America, he should trust in the American system of justice,” Kerry said. “But to be hiding in Russia, an authoritarian country, and to have just admitted he was really just trying to get to Cuba — what does that tell you?” he added. “I think he’s confused. I think it’s very sad.”
More here
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Maya Angelou in 1991, dancing with another legendary poet Amiri Baraka, who died in January
The Obama Diary 
Thank you Nerdy
Congrats on 1st vetivera 🙂
NW, you follow one great post after another with yet more excellence. Thank you!!
Bob, I had a nuts day, one thing after another. When I came back earlier I was thinking where am I going to start with catching up for posts? Then I see a DM from Nerdy, she was on her way out for the day, but had left three – THREE! – wonderful posts, all complete, in drafts. She’s a Grade A treasure!!!
And, of course, the wonder that is LL produced a beautiful Dr Maya post. Awesomely fabulous blog tyrants!
Ah yes, Chips. I actually managed to thank him twice for his special tribute!!
She certainly is a Treasure, Chips. And, the two of you are a fantastic team.
BTW, I didn’t yet get a chance to thank LP for his fine R&S. So, I’ll do that now 🙂
They’ve got your back, Chipsticks! They do it for all of us, and they do it because they love us, and they know we love them! ❤
They’re the bestest, MightyP! Nerdy, LP & LL, a whole bunch of awesome today – and every day 🙂
Ma’am, we’re just following your example. Well, not in choice of football clubs, but you know what I mean.
I remain hopeful that you footballing heathens will see the light one day. Well, hopeful-ish.
Thanks, Bob.
Thanks, Vetivera.
A completely wonderful round-up Nerdy, thank you Legend.
Thank you so much, Chips.
I can’t believe you left me with so much work to do Nerdy, I had to click ‘Publish’ three times. You are a flippin’ gem. Thank you ENDLESSLY!
Hahahahahahaha….
The horror! The horror!
Thank you so much again, Chips.
Just look at these amazing men:
PRECIOUS….ALL THREE SOLDIERS!
Urge all of you to read Spandan’s latest!
And Pierce has a few words on the topic Bob
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-retreat-from-afghanistan-052814
“…we had a look this morning at the commentary unleashed on the topic of the president’s announcement that the U.S. (largely) would be disengaging from combat in Afghanistan that appears today on the editorial page of The Washington Post, which is the professional haunt of Fred Hiatt, a perpetual embarrassment to the craft, who never has met a war he couldn’t monger, someone else’s child that he wouldn’t ship into a kill zone, or an apologist for war crimes to whom he wouldn’t cut a check.”
Thank you 99!!! Pierce definitely gets it!!
Spin that, Tzar Vlad ….
I know, it’s Thomas Kinky Friedman, but when he’s right, he’s right: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/opinion/friedman-putin-blinked.html?smid=tw-share
In the end, it was Putinism versus Obamaism, and I’d like to be the first on my block to declare that the “other fellow” — Putin — “just blinked.”
Yes Indeed. TomF Got it.
Am going to keep asking until we get an answer ….
Bob, I’m still catching up with everything, did you see this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/opinion/friedman-putin-blinked.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
Yes, Chips. Thank you. I’m still chuckling that Tom got it 🙂
He TOTALLY got it:)
Lovepolitics has a powerful post as the final entry on the last thread.
Can somebody bring it over?
Of course, Vicki 🙂
Lovepolitics2008
May 28, 2014 at 7:15 pm
I have to say I’m flabbergasted by how the president’s speech has been received today. I thought the pundits were lazy but I didn’t think they were that DENSE, that STUPID !!!! I am an ordinary woman. I’m NOT a journalist, nor a historian, nor a specialist in geopolitics. I don’t know everything, far from it. But as I listen to the president, I thought that he MADE PERFECT SENSE. His speech was as BALANCED, as NUANCED, as COMPLEX as the REAL WORLD IS. Barack Obama demonstrated a DEEP UNDERSTANDING of how the world is evolving, and how the United States can still exert lots of influence without exhausting itself in trying to rule everywhere.
MORAL LEADERSHIP, leadership by EXAMPLE, leadership by COORDINATION, by MOTIVATION. Leadership based on UNIVERSAL VALUES. With STILL the possibility of using military force when it’s absolutely necessary.
WHAT THE HELL do they want ?
I didn’t think those pundits were such REACTIONARY IDIOTS !
The TRUTH ? A vast majority of Beltway figures are not able to deal with the fact that it’s impossible politically, economically and fiscally for the US to control the whole world. Good grief, they’re living in the Reagan fantasy.
Or, there may be something else at play: since those guys, I realize now, have absolutely no depth of knowledge in everything else than day-to day Washington politics, they base their reaction not on the SUBSTANCE of the speech, but on their dislike of the president. Let’s not kid ourselves, for some reason they don’t like him. REALLY don’t like him. So they NEVER, EVER give him the benefit of the doubt. I can guarantee you, if somebody like Jon Huntsman had given EXACTLY THE SAME SPEECH, they would have sung his praises. And said that yes, the US has to readjust its foreign policy for the 21st century etc.
Barack Obama is asking the United States to grow up and to adjust and it’s difficult for many; those people would only follow the lead if they liked the leader.
It makes me so angry. To have a president of this CALIBER, and to not be able to realize it …
Sorry for the rant. I just hope that SOME people with more credentials will offer more intelligent analysis in the next few days…
Superb and on point. Could not agree more.
2nd that assessment!
Vicki,
You expressed clearly and cogently what a number of us think, I’m sure. I know you expressed my thinking.
Why don’t they like him, I think is an operative question. I think they are very jealous of him. He is well educated, thoughtful, compassionate, forward looking, well versed in history and context, a terrific speaker, a poetic writer…….and he is not of the white privileged elite. They cannot stand this. And, he puts the last president, a member of the white privileged elite to shame, and they know it. SO…..they only thing they can do to make themselves feel better about their puny selves, is to demean him. Also, they decide before every speech what they want him to say, and if he doesn’t, then he has “disappointed.”
This speech is 21st century, forward looking, cogent and consistent with what he’s been saying since 2006. These numbnut reporters are not used to a president who thinks and is consistent. This man reads and understands Reinhold Niebuhr, and I doubt any of these guys have. They also are NOT knowledgeable about history. As a history major I can tell that.
“This speech is 21st century, forward looking, cogent and consistent with what he’s been saying since 2006.” Thank you Carolyn for your insights.
This place gives our space a degree of calmness and truth that is very rare in other places. Thanks so much. HZ
Bravo, Carolyn. Well said.
Vicki, you validate my hope in the majority of thoughtful people left in this world.
I think also that we cannot discount the real presence of evil at work. One of the hardest, and necessary revelations of my adult life was to acknowledge that their are people who deliberately choose evil, and they prey on the weak and confused continually; and are constantly the enemy of the good. They use lies, misdirection, betrayal, and every underhanded tactic they can conceive, with no morals to restrain them to achieve their purposes. Their real power resides in getting others to do their bidding, through force or persuasion, and they thrive on confusion.
They cannot prevail when the truth wins. This is why I love TOD.
Folks, Lovepolitics2008 wrote that powerful statement. Not me. Thanks to Bob for bringing it over as I requested and to everyone who read it. Lovepolitics is clearly speaking for many of us.
The very sad reality – is the reason that they dislike this President – it sure doesn’t relate to his political affiliation.
DITTO 99ts…IT IS BECAUSE HE IS OBAMA…THE ONE THEY DID NOT EXPECT TO WIN…WHO SURPRISED THEM…THAT AFRICAN AMERICAN GUY…THAT ONE….LITTLE DO THEY KNOW THAT THIS AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT IS TO BE HIGHLY REGARDED AND RESPECTED FOR CARRYING THE CROSS AND HIS COMPASSIONATE BURDEN FOR HUMAITY AMONG THE FLESHLY SPOILS OF ROTTING AD INSIGNIFICANT IGNORANCE. WHEN THE PAGES OF HISTORY ARE TURNED…THE SELFISH SHALL BE DEALT WITH AND THEIR PAGES WILL BE EMPTY.
Hi folks ! I hadn’t had time to bring my post in this thread. Thanks for doing it Bob ! I’m happy that you guys agree with me ! Thanks !
Way past time ….
ah I saw a story posted about Dr. Angelou earlier today. Like my parents when they passed on, I know in my head that this is the natural order of things, but still sadness tugged at me when I saw the news go by. What an incredible treasure she was/is – her work will live on forever.
Thanks NW for the thoughtful post. You always do such fine work. 🙂
She was indeed a treasure.
Thanks, a4alice.
Thank you!!
I love this interview….
Thank you, Pf58! It’s the first I’m seeing a ‘young’ Maya. She speaks so eloquently. I do wish I could remember meaningful quotations like this, when in conversation.
A moment of squee.
And we love you LL for all that you do to make this world a better place for those kids. To inspire, listen to, watch them create, and then show the world is an awesome gift to all of us. We surely can ask for more like you, brilliant leader. The best to you, LL.
“I freaking love my job.” That is the best!!HZ
Oh, my, NW. Dr. Angelou’s final tweet. Thank you for that.
Another poignant one here Jacqueline, about the Nigerian girls:
Beautiful, Chips. Thanks so much.
Oh Nerdy Wonka thank you for this and especially for the YouTube of the President’s West Point Speech! I couldn’t watch it live but very much wanted to hear it. I knew I could count on TOD to make it available asap!
O.k., on my way to the last post to listen to the best Commander in Chief this country has had in my lifetime!
Thanks, Madame Soph.
Good evening TOD! I just saw the funniest clip on Chris Hayes opening segment about Mitch McConnell trying not to answer the question about KYNECT vs. Obamacare! He froze, tried to pass the mic to Rand Paul, then fumbled out his answer with a deer in the headlights expression. I almost fell over laughing! 😀 😀 😀
She was a woman of many talents…Introducing Miss Calypso!
RIP Dr. Angelou
Goodness, a really beautiful and graceful young woman!
I’m late to the Pacers game…….expecting them to be spectators for the rest of the season after presumably losing to the Heat tonight in game 5 😦
Have a good evening everyone…..catch up tomorrow!
CNN actually does a really nice piece on Dr. Angelou’s career and life.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/28/us/maya-angelou-obit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Wait, from my TL I’m gathering that John Cole is a Snowden fanboy? Disappointing.
oh, the whole bj fp’er crew are snowden fanboys/girls. But most commenters mock them for it.
Good that they’re mocked.
Chips!!! Check the tweet I just sent you.
😳
glazer is dead? good.
Chucky Todd was on Chris Matthews show and they were talking about some report POTUS was waiting for had come back and it didn’t look good for the Secretary of the VA, so they was saying how Democrats has join Republicans asking for him to resign, and how Obama said that once that report come in someone would have to pay. What is Obama going to do, keep his word. I turn it away from Matthews, I had had enough of Chris and Chucky.
The President’s 3 day Foreign Policy Events apparently do not count as news for MSNBC.
The VA mis-treatment of veterans, NOT the underfunding by Repubs, is the news they are wallowing in.
Witholding necessary money, meh, no story.
Hideously long delays, now you’re talking. Slam PBO is the only story they want.
Wonderful piece.
Thanks NW, LL, LP and our blog mistress extraordinaire for this haven of sanity, hope, and community.
Holy Smokes Nerdy Wonka.
Here’s to you with a standing ovation.
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Brilliantly Done NW. Thank You.
Thanks, Nena.
bt, hope you trained danny better than this.
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Nerdy’s new post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/05/28/a-tweet-or-two-57/