President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn at the White House
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Yahoo: Obama Lauds Service Members At July Fourth Picnic
President Barack Obama says the extraordinary sacrifices by U.S. service members are keeping America safe and free. And he says there’s no other group of people that he and first lady Michelle Obama would rather spend time with on the Fourth of July than America’s men and women in uniform.
Obama addressed a crowd of hundreds of military families gathered Friday on the White House South Lawn for an all-American barbecue and concert sponsored by the USO. Music will be provided by the rapper Pitbull. The families will also get to see the fireworks on the National Mall.
More here
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A general view of the Independence Day celebration for military families on the South Lawn hosted by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House
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America. 🇺🇸 #Happy4thOfJuly pic.twitter.com/mI6B6pZrOH
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 04, 2014****
The President’s Own Marine Band plays as President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet military families
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"On behalf of our entire country, Michelle and I simply want to say thank you." —President Obama to military families
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White House Live (@WHLive) July 04, 2014****
"We salute our military families—the spouses who put their careers on hold for their loved ones." —President Obama
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 04, 2014****
The Obama Diary 
Happy 4th to all. Watching A Capitol Fourth. Hope the day has been good for all.
And they are in love with each other, which adds to their beauty, and to our blessing! ❤ ❤
Thank you so much, Nerdy Wonka, for sharing this gorgeous pic of the President and the First Lady. They are both very beautiful people, both on the inside and the outside. Thank you also for all the wonderful job you do bringing us news and keeping us up-to-date.
Thanks, Nath.
Gooooooooorgeous photos, thank yooooooou Nerdy!!
I love them and beyond proud of them!
I agree Tnmtngirl.
So nice to see you relaxing at the top TnMG! Independence Day greetings!
Thanks, vc.
Thanks, Chips. They truly are a goooooooooorgeous couple.
Ms NerdyW, I liked how you walked the Obamas all the way down the steps in pics! 🙂
LOL. Thanks, VC.
Aw, thank *you* as always! What time are you heading out to paint the town this holiday night? You’re not one of those who will be lighting fireworks into the wee hours, I hope. 😉 😉
My lips are sealed. I know nothing. 😉
😉 😉 Smart tactic…or strategy! 🙂 🙂
A little party never killed nobody. Folks are getting down at the White House. Busting some serious moves. Looks like big fun all around.
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…PATTI LABELLE……………………….WHAT A WOMAN!
Well now. This is our first 4th of July in the new neighborhood – it’s more commercial here, more densely populated. We were just having a cuddle, kitty not at all well, when a roman candle or some such VERY noisy thing went off below – KABOOM!! UhOh, kitty is looking at me with a WTF Mom, make it stop look. And it’s only 6pm. Gonna be a llloooonnnnggggg night around NE Seattle! ;(
Poor thing! That’s one of the hard spots for me on holidays too – the people who feel they have to light fireworks all through the night. Of course it’s not the same people, but to my knowledge there’s no time restriction so you can listen to it on and off all night. Maybe closing the windows would mute the sound?
Have had the windows closed for a while. Turned off the fans when the sky became cloudy and the temps cooled. But, turning the fans back on helps, white noise, and closer than the outdoor sounds. Better now! 😉
UhOh.. Now I look out and see it has started raining a bit. I didn’t do it, I promise. I never, ever mess with the weather!!
🙂
BACK TO THE FLATSCREEN…..GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU….HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
A beautiful President and First Lady.
Thanks to our military men and women who give us all so much to live in this beautiful country. We thank you all on this 4th of July, 2014.
Thanks TOD family. Our Chips is the best with all of her beautiful contributors. {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ I love you, TOD family.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}HZ
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Thank you, Nerdy W.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}HZ
Right back at ya, HZ! 🙂
Lots of love to you, HZ. Happy 4th!!
Hi my beautiful neighbor. Happy 4th to you. I hope you are enjoying your celebration. Lots of loving hugs to you. HZ
I’m enjoying some stillness and a nice glass of Malbec. Putting my thoughts into hoping for more tolerance on this Independence Day, that courageous children be spared the evils of bigotry and fear.
Hugs to you, my California neighbor.
Enjoy and have a relaxing evening. My thoughts are the same also, meta. Love you much.HZ
HZ, I hope you’re having a wonderful day and treating yourself with some good rest and relaxation.
Hi Jackie G., I am. I was able to sleep a little more and now I am just trying to catch up on the reading. It is quiet here because fireworks are illegal in my city; however in the city next door there a lovely presentation at a park there. I enjoy staying in tonight.
I am hoping that POB will have a nice weekend and that he will be able to enjoy his celebration of his first born, lovely Malia. HZ
Before departing to prepare dinner, hope you are in good health, dear HZ, and are having a restful day.
Bobfr, thank you so much. I had a lovely quiet day. Too hot to be outside, so I stayed in and waited for my wonderful call from my dear brother. Life is good when I hear from him.
I rested until late this morning, but needed it after my non-sleep night a few nights ago. Feel better and had a lovely day of catching up on reading and being here with our TOD family. I hope you and your family had a wonderful celebration.
Bobfr, thanks for all of the beautiful and dedicated work that you do and reminding us all how important our jobs are and will continue to be for the upcoming election to get our president a Congress who will work with him and for all of the people.
Enjoy your dinner, Bobfr.HZ
Thank you HZ. Am delighted to know that you are resting and taking good care of your lovely self.
#FORWARD Together
Gorgeous!
So, I’ve had my fireworks quota for the night at the WH ‘do’ and hope my neighbours will realize that that’s more than enough. 🙂
If only!
{{MP}} Only a few more hours, and then it’ll be July 5.
We’ll make it! We do appreciate the genuine encouragement and support! Kitty is not letting me out of her sight – and I made no plans for just this reason!
Variety is getting their butts handed to them for this foolish tweet and article. Helloooooooo, Chuck Berry?! Big Joe Turner?! Ike Turner?! Little Richard?!
Check out —–> #VarietyHeadlines
Elvis invented rock ‘n’ roll. Suuuuuure…and Macklemore and Iggy Azalea invented hip hop.
I bet Dudette, our DJ extraordinaire would have a good chuckle at this stupidity.
Wow, I guess 19 year olds are running their twitter account. Hideous!
You know, it does seem that the writer of the article (@Variety_Cynthia) DID KNOW that Presley did not invent rock ‘n roll. She didn’t stress it per se though. Here are two quotes from the article – I’m wondering if the caption was ‘created’ by someone else.
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As Keisker later recalled, according to Guralnick, Phillips often declared: “If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars.” This was the 1950s and the South, after all.
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Phillips’ vision of Presley as the one who could achieve crossover success by expropriating African-American influences was reinforced by the very first reference to “Elvis Presley” in Variety, which came in the Aug. 24, 1955, weekly edition.
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I did shake my head at the white man making a billion dollars by stealing ‘the Negro sound and Negro feel’…
‘This was the 1950s and the South, after all.’
https://twitter.com/Our4thEstate/status/485252905100783616
typo corrected ….
Hope all TODers are enjoying/have enjoyed a fabulous 4th of July!
bbl ….
Love those “Mom Jeans” they are a stunning couple. THANK YOU 🙂 NW for the full compliment of pictures. Was busy and didn’t get to see the fire works or the rest, will have to catch up on C-Span later. Have a good evening everyone. GN.
Thanks, France!
Bienvenue, des Etats Unis! (did I get it right?)
Sounds right to me! 🙂
🙂
Yes!!
Lovely!
A very good note on which to say ‘Good Night’
This is the best version of this song (ignore the video!):
Pete Souza The Great.
O-ho, NW, we were on a similar wave length for a moment or two there. 🙂
POTUS, FLOTUS and the birthday girl. What great parents to put on a firework show like that for their lovely birthday girl.
🙂
Kind of funny Pete now has to identify Malia( from the back)
🙂 See my comment ot NerdyW above! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Bedtime for sure – ‘comment to..’
Amk!!! Certainly took you long enough to show up! I had to say goodbye earlier as I wasn’t sure I could hang in ‘forever’ to pass the baton. ‘Here, you go! Ciao.’
4th of j and you want to sleep? tsk, tsk, tsk.
say gunnite vc.
I always *want* to sleep – don’t always get my wants met.
GOOD Night, slow baton passer!
And this is just one of the reasons why we have to keep trying to make America “a more perfect union.”
I saw some old white lady out there protesting against the people being brought to their town, and what she said that really piss me off when she said it was time to take our country back. Those racists bigots have some dam nerve.
And they’re so stupid they don’t even know how stupid and ignorant and racist they are!
These are the kind of people who answer Quinnipiac poll and said that President Obama was the worst modern President, the only thing that make this President the worst to those kind of people is the color of his skin. I mean how can he be worse then the man who wasn’t elected, was put in the WH by the Supreme Court and Kathleen Harris, who ignored 9/11. Who lead this county into a terrible war, that 4000 soldiers died, many, many many more came back all messed up, that war cost over trillions of dollars, people were torture. That war destroyed the U.S reputation around the world. Then let’s not forget Hurricane Katrina, and then let’s not forget the crisis, I mean crisis G.W. Bush left with our economy. So anyone who believes that President Obama is the worst President of modern history, the only reason they believe that is because he is black. We all know that that Quinnipiac poll was full of alot of B.S. and I don’t mean Butter Sugar.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree with your every word! I’m as sick of it as you are.
Hang in there! We still have President Obama, which is the ONLY reason I haven’t given up on our political process!
saw the bra-col match till half time. couldn’t stand all the violence in the middle. wtf happened to the famed touch futbol artistry of south americans?
Will always remember leaving New York harbour last December, being on our balcony and seeing her and her beacon of hope as we sailed on!
Beautiful! I visited her once – absolutely stunning and heartwarming moment for me, too!
In 1984, when I was a student in nyc, I got inside her head. Literally. I heard you can’t do it anymore.
I stood at her feet. You can still do that!
But I like to mess with her head.
Ha. You would!
Goodnight to you, sir. I’m outta here!!!!!!
As children, visiting Grandma in Jersey City was always fun and delightful, for more reasons than one, but seeing the Statue of Liberty from her attic window is a powerful memory to this day, 60 years later! 😉
Oh my goodness, how great!
It’s as though GOD is taking Lady Liberty to heaven because she does not belong in this American hell. Thursday I heard a caller on progressive radio say we should ask these people to remove the saying “bring me your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…..” because it no longer applies.
I’m convinced the pendulum will swing back in the other direction one of these years. Mostly because it MUST! Hope I live long enough to see things get better!
Jojo, thanks for your comment. There is a beautiful and moving song that was arranged by Roy Ringwald and composed by Irving Berlin from the Musical Show, “Miss Liberty.” I sang it in college and I still play and sing it when I play my piano. It is beautiful with a full choir.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside, the golden door.”
Ad libitum: molto espressivo:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless, tempest, tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Then the full choir comes back in with a sustained Fortissimo:
“Give me your tired,
Your poor, Your
Huddle masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
It ends with an Allargando.
(Must be played with a great pianist and sung by S.A.B. Great composition by Irving Berlin and Roy Ringwald.
It is such a moving arrangement, and when you have a great choir who are great musicians with their instrument, the voice, it will not be a dry eye or untouched soul of goodness in the audience.
I pray for wisdom for Sec. Jeh Johnson and his team, VP Biden, AG Eric Holder, and President Barack Obama to be granted the most beautiful, fair, and just measure of wisdom in dealing with the precious lives coming into the country now. And I pray for the vile and shameless people who are being so disrespectful of humanity in need.
Good night, my beautiful Chips and TOD family. Blessings to all of us.HZ
That’s beautiful HZ. I am going to make a copy of this maybe send it to PBO.
I crashed after dinner and watched only a little of the fireworks on TV.
I hope you had a restful day stayed safely inside and out of the heat. I had to use the air yesterday so the cats did not freak from the neighbors fireworks.
(((((((Love and hugs))))))
seriously, at what point does the ‘free speech’ becomes the vile hatred speech?
I find the very first photo, with the sunlight falling across PBO’s head, and setting done on Michelle’s lovely hair, just riveting. As if their crown chakras are fully illuminated. Which I believe they are for sure!! Beautiful! Goodnight. I can’t make it any longer, fireworks blaring or no. Thank you for sharing this day of great meaning! Many blessings. Sweet dreams.
Get a good night’s sleep with your sweet memories, MightyPamela.
lol.
Spot on, AMK! Owning military assault weapons, without any military training whatsoever, is the quickest way to get your penis enlarged.
Believe the new term is Ammosexual. Arghh.
File this one under “How it’s done correctly”
Luther didn’t hold anything back.
Dang! That was supposed to be this!
lol.
So much for being “a christian nation”. There is nothing christian about the bible belt.
Yon fight like hell for your guns, but when it comes to helping someone get a good living wage you are against that. Living wage can help feed a family, put a roof over a homeless person head, what does a gun do? But they hollow all the time about being christians.
Great tweets, AMK! You’ve been on fire all night.
I jus’ steal’em, nath, I jus’ steal’em.
I am glad you’re “stealing” (re-tweeting) the best!
To the future! Good night, all. Happy Fifth of July, when everybody gets there!
#OWNthe114th
Yes WE MUST
good night TOD ….
You are on stolen Native American and Mexican land. Well maybe the Tea Party KKK Republicans think when Columbus came over here white blonde blue eyed white folks is what greeted him. That’s why they so boastfully talk about how they want their country back.
Thank you Bobfr. Lawrence gave a history lesson on his show last week about the name California and this very important piece of history that these vile, yes I said the word because I cannot ever understand people acting in this manner without having their being so full of the elements that makes for a vile attitude of heart, mind and body that will taint and soil hearts of little children and their mothers for life. This is not right on so many level.
So thanks Bobfr for continuing to be our Great Champion on Twitter by bringing light to these important issues from all across the world. You are a man of great intellect and graciousness in displaying your knowledge. We are so blessed to be in your presence here at TOD.
Thank you, Bobfr!!!!HZ
Very kind of you, HZ! I’m blessed to be able to be with all of you, as well.
#OWNthe114th
Yes WE MUST
My question: Is it really a debt just as long as it is there when I need to use it.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” I have come to hate fireworks and what they do to the animals and birds in the neighborhood and throughout the land. What excites me on the 4th of July are these words by Thomas Jefferson. They are words that have transformed the world. MLK referred to these words when he spoke of his dream of “living out the truth of our creed.” Indeed we shall in the days and years to come. I give thanks that I have lived under the presidency of Barack Obama who takes these words seriously and governs by them.
Mooooooorning!
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/07/05/early-bird-chat-255/