Archive for December 1st, 2014

01
Dec
14

Monday Calls For Laughter

By Nerdy Wonka 142 Comments
Categories: All Photos
Tags: ,

****

****

****

****

****

****

01
Dec
14

The Community Speaks: A Town Hall at Ebenezer Baptist Church

By Chipsticks 144 Comments
Categories: All Photos


The Community Speaks – A Town Hall at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta

Live streaming here

****

Attorney General Eric Holder will attend the town hall to discuss race relations in the wake of Michael Brown’s death.

Ebenezer pastor Dr. Raphael Warnock: “The events in Ferguson bring into sharp focus the need to change America again until all enjoy the protection and promise of our justice system, ‘equal treatment under the law. I am honored to welcome our nation’s first black attorney general to America’s Freedom Church.”

01
Dec
14

A Tweet Or Two

By Nerdy Wonka 98 Comments
Categories: All Photos and All Videos
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

****

****

****

****

****

Continue reading ‘A Tweet Or Two’

01
Dec
14

Executive Order on Police Militarization

By Chipsticks 187 Comments
Categories: All Photos, Articles and Ferguson
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

CNN: President Obama Preparing Executive Order On Police Militarization

President Barack Obama, responding to concerns over the use of military-style equipment during protests in Ferguson, Missouri over the summer, is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track the weapons and gear flowing from the federal government to local police departments around the nation.

The order, which he’s expected to preview Monday afternoon during a meeting with law enforcement and local government officials, would mandate federal agencies to review the way they provide U.S. police with heavy equipment like tanks and aircraft.

…. The White House will also ask for $263 million to provide police departments with body cameras, which advocates say would provide a clearer picture of confrontations like the incident in Ferguson, in which a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. The funds would also go toward training.

Full piece here

01
Dec
14

Certain Truths May Be Uncomfortable But They Are Still True

By Nerdy Wonka 117 Comments
Categories: All Photos, Articles and Ferguson
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

****

Bravo, Chris Rock! It is not up to Black people to end racism. It is up to white people. That is the hard truth a lot of people shy away from. Black people know what racism is. They know the sting of it, they know the hurt, they know the pain, they know the economical and institutional pain of it, they know the death that results from it. It is not Black people who are out there committing heinous racist acts and crimes. Black people have been speaking about this to the world for decades. If you want a country where a child doesn’t get gunned down because of the color of his skin, white people have to look at themselves and ask what role do I play in this and how can I first listen, believe, and help to end this scourge.

****

****

Frank Rich: In Conversation With Chris Rock

What would you do in Ferguson that a standard reporter wouldn’t?

I’d do a special on race, but I’d have no black people.

Well, that would be much more revealing.

Yes, that would be an event. Here’s the thing. When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it’s all nonsense. There are no race relations. White people were crazy. Now they’re not as crazy. To say that black people have made progress would be to say they deserve what happened to them before.

Right. It’s ridiculous.

So, to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years. If you saw Tina Turner and Ike having a lovely breakfast over there, would you say their relationship’s improved? Some people would. But a smart person would go, “Oh, he stopped punching her in the face.” It’s not up to her. Ike and Tina Turner’s relationship has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Nothing. It just doesn’t. The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let’s hope America keeps producing nicer white people.

It’s about white people adjusting to a new reality?

Owning their actions. Not even their actions. The actions of your dad. Yeah, it’s unfair that you can get judged by something you didn’t do, but it’s also unfair that you can inherit money that you didn’t work for.

Would you seek out someone to interview who might not normally be sought out?

I would get you to interview somebody, and I would put something in your ear, and I’d ask the questions through you.

You’d have a white guy.

And I would ask them questions that you would never come up with, and we’d have the most amazing interviews ever.

And we’d be asking white people and black people?

Just white people. We know how black people feel about Ferguson—outraged, upset, cheated by the system, all these things.

So you think people can be lulled into saying the outrageous shit they really feel?

Michael Moore has no problem getting it. Because he looks like them. But the problem is the press accepts racism. It has never dug into it.

When Obama was running for president, a certain kind of white person would routinely tell reporters, “He’s just not one of us.” Few reporters want to push that person to the wall and say, “What do you mean he’s not like you, unless you’re talking about the fact that he’s African-American?” Where else besides Ferguson would you hypothetically want to interview white people?

I’d love to do some liberal places, because you can be in the most liberal places and there’s no black people.

More here

****

****

****

Continue reading ‘Certain Truths May Be Uncomfortable But They Are Still True’

01
Dec
14

Rise and Shine

By Chipsticks 130 Comments
Categories: All Photos

On This Day: President Obama and his daughter Sasha laugh during the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington December 1, 2011

****

Today (all times Eastern)

12:0: The President meets with Cabinet members to discuss a review he ordered in August of federal funding and programs that provide equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies

1:0: White House Press Briefing

2:0: The President gathers young civil rights leaders to the Oval Office. Topics for discussion will include the mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color.

2:50: Meets with elected officials, community and faith leaders, along with law enforcement officials, to discuss strengthening trust between police and communities

****

****

President Barack Obama sits on the famed Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford Museum following an event in Dearborn, Mich., April 18, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

****

On This Day

Pete Souza: “He and the Vice President were headed for the short walk from the White House to the Eisenhower Executive Office building to brief Congressional leaders on his new Afghanistan strategy that he would publicly unveil at West Point that night. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had just pulled up in her motorcade and the Vice President congratulated her that her daughter, Chelsea, had just gotten engaged.” Dec. 1, 2009

President Obama gestures while talking on the phone Oval Office prior to leaving for his speech at West Point, Dec. 1, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

An ornament hangs on the official White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room of the White House, Dec. 1, 2009 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

****

President Obama pauses in the Oval Office after making a series of telephone calls to Members of Congress, Dec. 1, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama jokes with Vice President Biden and former Secretary of State Colin Powell following their meeting in the Oval Office, Dec. 1, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

First Lady Michelle Obama and White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses laugh as a young visitor tastes her decorated cookie during a holiday craft demonstration with the children of military personnel in the State Dining Room of the White House, Dec. 1, 2010 (Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

****

The President with Malia and the First Lady with Sasha wait backstage before the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., Dec. 1, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and his daughter Sasha at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington December 1, 2011

****

MoooOOOoooring!

01
Dec
14

Early Bird Chat

By Chipsticks 55 Comments
Categories: All Photos

On This Day: President Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia and First Lady Michelle Obama participate in the National Christmas Tree Lighting on December 1, 2011 at the Ellipse, south of the White House, in Washington, DC.

****

MoooOOOooorning – Happy Monday!

@POTUS

@BarackObama

@WhiteHouse

@FLOTUS

@MichelleObama

@PeteSouza

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

@TheObamaDiary

@NerdyWonka

RSS Obama White House.gov

  • An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.

RSS WH Tumblr

  • An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.

RSS Steve Benen

  • Most GOP voters don't think criminal charges should disqualify Trump from running
  • Lessons from around the globe in 'Teachers' book
  • How AR-15 bullets impact the human body
  • Sheryl Crow: Moms and dads in Tennessee want sensible legislation
  • 'Stay curious, be creative' and more leadership traits

Categories

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 43,346,976 hits

WH Flickr

P011317LJ-0002P122416PS-0077P112416PS-0059P112416PS-0022P111016CK-0009P100816PS-0011P071516PS-0802P061516PS-0016P061216PS-0013P050416PS-0731
More Photos