On This Day: President Obama and his daughter Sasha watch the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, December 9, 2010
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Today
11:50 EDT: The President delivers remarks at an event for the Senior Executive Service
1:05 EDT: Departs White House
2:05 CT: Arrives Nashville
2:50 CT: Delivers remarks and answers questions about his immigration action, Casa Azafran, Nashville
6:00 CT: Departs Nashville
8:45 EDT: Arrives White House
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On This Day
Pete Souza: “The day we were leaving for Oslo, the President’s first meeting of the morning was with his speechwriting team. He said he had stayed up most of the night writing. I was surprised to see that he had handwritten the entire speech so I made a few close-up pictures as he went over the speech with his aides in the Oval Office.” Dec. 9, 2009
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First Lady Michelle Obama reads “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama talks to Secret Service Uniformed Division officers as he walks through the magnetometer in the Northwest Gatehouse at the White House, following his visit to Blair House, Dec. 9, 2011. The President told a reporter as he exited the gatehouse, “I just wanted to see what it was like getting in here.” (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama, with mother-in-law Marian Robinson, daughters Sasha and Malia, and First Lady Michelle Obama, react as they push the button to light the National Christmas Tree during a ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2012 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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MoooOOOooorning!
The Obama Diary 
Ha!
It’s Dame Delectable!!!!!!!
It’s ME!!! Oh my goodness! I don’t want to say!
First of all… I want to thank my publicist, my high school drama teacher, all the mean girls in 4th period, P.E class… 😀
Your agent!1!1! DON’T forget your agent!1!1!
My agent/publicist… whatever! 😀
Speaking of Dame: Happy Birthday to Dame Judy Dench, 1934. ❤
Love her!
wtg dudette
Thanks 99ts!
No way!!!! This is worth being late for work! 🙂
🙂 It is!! Congrats,Dudette:) Have a great day
Hiya df! I’d be get ta steppin’ now though!
Y’all can watch me as I sashay off into the sunrise! See ya later! 🙂
That’s some sashay you got there! Have a great day!!
I love that the Obama family includes grandma – shows the love going through the generations.
g’nite all – busy days in my world, I seem to crash earlier than I used to
Good night 99ts, sweet dreams!
Dreams are made of grandbabes – enjoy the northern day – just in passing we had temps in the 90s and then a big thunder storm
Tell about it, 99. It’s earlier and earlier to bed as I grow older. And they used to say that older people needed less sleep. Ha!
It’s cold, wet, windy, miserable, horrible, yucky – and I have to take Danny for a walk now.
Shoulda got a hamster!1!1!
hot, hotter, hottest. 😎 😎 😎
Post 2017, One vote for Obama Daily Show … aka ODS.
I hope the Nashville segment of the president’s day goes well and there are no more ‘planted’ hecklers.
Nicole Wallace Torture Apologist.
ONLY TWO WORDS NEEDED HERE…SICK WOMAN!!!!!…MAKE IT 3………………IMMORAL!
Howard Dean let that witch out talk him with her right wing B.S.
Nicole Wallace and Dick Cheney are the same people who found no problem with slavery. Heck the slaves should have been glad to be here with a steady job, food to eat, roof over their head.
Sometimes letting the other person say what they think is the best strategy. It allows everyone to hear exactly what their motives are good or malicious.
Wise words, OG!
G’morning Chips, TOD, lurkers, everyone and congrats Dudette on #1 🙂
Thanks Chips for yet another fabulous Tuesday R & S roundup! 🙂
AS ALWAYS…THE PICTURES ARE PRICELESS…AS FOR THE SUBJECT OF TORTURE…OH MY…YOU WOULD THINK MANKIND WOULD HAVE LEARNED SOME LESSONS IN LIFE. IF YOU FOLLOW CHRIST…TORTURE IS NEVER AN OPTION…HIS LOVE AND COMPASSION WOULD NEVER ALLOW SUCH CHOICES AND WE WILL BE JUDGED FOR THEM…WE WILL BE JUDGED FOR THEM AS WE WILL BE JUDGED FOR THE WAY THIS PRESIDENT HAS BEEN TREATED IN HIS OWN COUNTRY…WHERE HE HAS BEEN SPAT UPON AND ABUSED BECAUSE OF HIS COLOR OR THE CONSPIRACY GARBAGE THAT SURROUNDED HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE…DON’T GET ME STARTED!…THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE USE OF TORTURE…PLAIN AND SIMPLE…I LOVE MY PRESIDENT!
If you aren’t Christian you should also be against torture. No good comes out of such wanton cruelty.
ABSOLUTELY JEFF….IF YOU HAVE A HEART AT ALL…WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE ONE DONATED TO DICK CHENEY…YOU DON’T TORTURE!
It makes you wish as a potential organ transplant donor you had some say in who got your parts.
Susan Collins in on the floor of the Senate giving tribute to Mark Pryor because the Senate has nothing else to do before recess ?
What a freaking joke
Yup, their only agenda.
LOL.
Unfazed by the recent terror attacks, a 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday that involved 16 seats –all in the Valley — as they continued to ignore boycott calls.
The turnout in the five-phase elections was, however, less compared to the first two phases which recorded 72 per cent polling though it was nine per cent higher than that recorded in 2008 assembly polls. A 49 per cent polling was recorded for the same segments in the previous polls.
With Tuesday’s polling covering three districts, voting has been completed in 49 of the 87 assembly constituencies. The fourth and fifth phase will be held on December 14 and 20. Counting of votes will be taken up on December 23.
Barring a petrol bomb attack by some unidentified persons at a polling station in Gulmarg, the polling was by and large peaceful in all the constituencies in Baramulla, Pulwama and Budgam districts of north, south and central Kashmir.
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/undeterred-by-militant-attack-jk-voters-throng-polling-station/20141209.htm
Bless Them
Could it be??
http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2014/12/members-only-are-cops-on-steroids-a-contributing-factor-in-excessive-force-cases.html
Just now saw PBO on Colbert, thanks to this blog! It was wonderful…..and I would say powerful. Yesterday BET and Colbert, today the Latin channel…..he’s going everywhere. What I notice about these other networks is that the interviewers treat him with total respect and ask sensible, well thought out questions and give him time to answer. They are not like Todd and Georgie S who are rude and lazy. Do they ever see themselves? Do they care!
I also noticed the “Bill” during Stephen’s interruption….knew immediately he was pointing at Bill O’Reilly. Very clever, very subtle, and well done.
Now…..good morning everyone. I’m off to give my last exam…….the semester will be over for me after I grade the tests and post grades. New semester starts a week after New Year’s. I love the rhythm of school…..as my daughter says, the new year didn’t start in January for us; it started when school started, when all four of us were in school, either teaching or attending.
As a retired teacher it took quite awhile before the fresh start of school in the fall no longer felt like a new year to me.
15 facts you didn’t know about Uber.
http://www.rediff.com/business/report/special-15-facts-you-didnt-know-about-uber/20141209.htm
Russia’s central bank has admitted it intervened to support the rouble in foreign currency markets last week spending a total of $4.53bn (£2.9bn).
It has spent more than $70bn supporting the rouble since the start of the year.
Its admission came as the World Bank warned the Russian economy would shrink by at least 0.7% in 2015 if oil prices do not recover.
Both the currency and Russian share indexes fell on Tuesday as global oil prices fell to a new five year low.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30391881
Hey stupid wingnuts and gop. Brain beats bombs. Every time.
The President is showing Putin what a real judo master can do.
Wasting it like this is far better, in the GOP warped state of mind, than using it to fix roads, bridges, railways, or making sure kids have enough to eat.
AM TRYING TO DUST TODAY…BUT THE DECREE IS KEEPING ME IN STITCHES…OUR PBO IS SOOOOOOOOOO FUNNY…HOME ALL DAY…TUNING IN ON OUR ENERGIZER BUNNY PRESIDENT!!!
Thanks!
Harry Reid on the floor to introduce Sen Feinstein…on cspan 2
I am not surprised by the horror of what we are able to do to another human being…but all of this was done in the name of the American People..a Democracy does not work when it is on auto-pilot…we have to take our democracy in hand…we are responsible for the people who are elected to office…either by our vote or by not voting …
Banning Torture was one of the first things the President did as Commander-in-Chief…
Absolutely loved watching the Colbert segment, as I have no television, I appreciate finding it here! There may never be a more classic jab at anyone than the way PBO took a jab at Bill O’Reilly!! I truly burst out laughing! Scared the heck out of the cat, so now I have to go and brush her. Mr. President, thank you with all my heart for taking on the mess this country had become. We will walk the entire way with you to get it back on track. Many blessings to our President Barack Obama.
And no doubt, I will laugh all day at the C lapel pin. Just fantastically reassuring, these two brilliant minds interacting. Bye, y’all. This might be another week I am 16 or 20 threads behind. But, maybe we’ll have a little birthday party tomorrow, balloons and all that! ❤ 😉 🐻 ❤
PROFOUNDLY STATE WITH GRACE AND INTEGRITY…2 WORDS DICK CHENEY NEVER FOUND IN HIS DICTIONARY! THESE ARE THE THINGS WE MUST MAKE RIGHT AND NEVER REPEAT IN OUR HISTORY…I LOVE THIS PRESIDENT!
THAT’S STATED!
what an elegant and passionate statement for peace and justice the President is…there will be those who disagree with moving forward…they want want blood
11:50 EDT: The President delivers remarks at an event for the Senior Executive Service
PERFECTLY PRESENTED TO THE SR. EXEC. SERV. BY A PRESIDENT WHO ABSOLUTELY ADORES PEOPLE….HE IS ALWAYS SO HAPPY WHEN HE IS OUT IN CROWDS…SAFE TRAVELS TO NASHVILLE MR. PRESIDENT…SS NEEDS TO BE ON THEIR TOES…LOTS OF IMMIGRANT HATERS IN NASHVILLE…PLEASE WATCH HIM CAREFULLY OR I’LL ‘SUE YA!’…WILL BE WATCHING HIS SPEECH THIS AFTERNOON!…:)
Sick, sick, horrific happenings under this scumbag’s administration.
And he and his minions are to this day proud of everything they did!!!
Even more reason to despise the willful arrogance and outright lies of the GWB/Cheney/Rumsfeld Adm:
If there’s protests overseas, I hope they take a page out of the #Ferguson #EricGarner protests and direct their anger where it belongs, not to American foreign service personnel 10 years later:
I call bs on those war criminals were not aware of this.
Exactly. It does NOT let the Bush admin off the hook – even though it tries to.
For deniability, no doubt.
The Truth has a way of coming out, eventually, come what may.
I remembered how scared GW was on 911 sitting down in a classroom reading My Pet Goat. That very night, when he was finally on TV, the Cablers show GW Bush, rattled, scared, sweaty and nervous and his address to the nation was Awful. The Media caught him Many Uber Slacks…….through Aug 29th, 2005……Not until after the debacle in LA, after the Katrina none response.
Today, whenever the Media show GW Bush after the 911 attacks. they show either his Bull Horn antics or in his flight suit scheme……News Media Manipulations continues.
BUSH SR. WITH CIA…IN DALLAS THE DAY JFK WAS SHOT…I’M STILL ON THAT ONE AND I KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT THE REPUGNANTS WILL TRY ANYTHING TO GET RID OF THIS PRESIDENT…SS NEEDS TO BE UP TO SNUFF AT ALL TIMES. WHOEVER WAS BEHIND THE DEATH OF JFK MADE SURE ALL CIRCUMSTANCES WERE PERFECTLY TIMED…HEAD OF SECURITY OVERSEAS…PARADE SLOWED DOWN…NOBODY IS STUPID HERE! BEEEEEEEEE CAREFUL!!!!
If the GOPers do it, the Press Cheers.
If not, the Press Jeers, Snarls and go 24/7 on attack mode.
finally, the ugliness that was darth, dumbya, dumbsfeld & co comes to light. fucking war criminals.
The CIA carried out “brutal” interrogations of terror suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, a US Senate report has said.
The summary of the report, compiled by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the CIA misled Americans about what it was doing.
The information the CIA collected this way failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30401100
every single case of cia’s briefings was a lie.
hayden lied. I don’t know if cia has been hammered this way before.
OH. MY. GOD.
It is Now undeniably, irrefutably, part of their Legacy…….the Media Can never scrub it off………The Karma of it all, those wanting them to be imprisoned………can now give it up. Their acts, deeds would live on for ever, period.
Last night I was yelling at the ABC Nightly News that said these torture tactics helped get Osama Bin Laden which is a bald face LIE! I was at my mother’s house nice she watches ABC all day long. The MSM is STILL carrying water for the Bush Crime Administration.
what an utterly corrupt to the core regime from the top to the bottom.
bravo to dems for facing up to the ugly truths and shining sunlight on them, probably at personal risks.
Morning all.
hey bbc, world doesn’t give a shit about what the habitual corrupt liar mitch mcconell has to say on this matter.
I notice the WHCP are for the most part deafeningly silent on the release of this torture report… I checked on each of their TL’s and have duly noted:
1. Chuck Todd – hasn’t tweeted a thing since Dec 7. I guess he knew this was going to be released and needed to cover his tracks.
2. Ed Henry – Selects certain excerpts from PBO’s statement to make it seem as though he’s okay with letting GWB off the hook….doesn’t tweet anything about what the torture report said, or what DiFi said.
3. Jake Tapper – Tries to make it about the CIA “misleading” the Bush administration. Says NOTHING about Bush & Cheney’s defense of torture.
4. Jon Karl – Hasn’t tweeted a thing – last tweet was 5 hrs ago about PBO’s appearance on Colbert.
5. Mark Knoller – Again, like Ed Henry, only selectively tweets portions of PBO’s statement which make it seem as though he is okay with letting GWB off the hook. Doesn’t tweet anything about the actual report.
So it appears that the WHPC has received their instructions from their GOP bosses: Only report selected excerpts from PBO’s current statement, or don’t report anything at all…until we give you your next set of instructions.
History will not forget. Unfortunately, most Americans will Yawn and move on.
911 was so traumatic and still resonates today. Most feel anything done to get “Those Basta*ds” real or imagined are quite Okay with most Americans. But History will Not let it go and in time, the future Generation will RIGHT this wrong.
Recall: War Criminal Michael Hayden Got Caught Leaking Trash about President Obama
(Hayden sitting behind a reporter on a train in Oct of 2013)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/09/1350441/-Recall-War-Criminal-Michael-Hayden-Got-Caught-Leaking-Trash-about-President-Obama
John E. McLaughlin, Acting Director of Central Intelligence, 2004. He replaced Tenet who had to resign .
Diane Feinstein says he lied so Mrs. Greenspan brings him on to deny it ?
Hello TOD.
Good Day TODville.
Au ⭐ for Dudette.
Awesome R&S and congrats to all the Gold ⭐ winners 3 posts back.
In_deed.
CIA did what was asked of them.
Number one Culprit is the Dick Cheney.
egg.sack.lee. At least, this ought to teach them how to handle things in future.
But it is also necessary for a soldier to resist when asked to do inhumane things
To quote a very famous person here at TOD, Egg.zack.lee.
They paid 80 million to torture contractors. 80 million !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( that we know of )
A very late Good day to all at TOD.
Last night’s PBO/Colbert outing Plus Diane Feinstein on C-SPAN have left me breathless and without any coherent comments to make.
Except that the Comedy Station replays Colbert later today and I plan to enjoy it again. Oh, Our President!!!! Words are inadequate to describe his greatness.
What DF has been describing is hideous beyond belief. Even for a country founded on genocide and built by slaves—still this goes low.
McCain has a good speech writer.
New post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/12/09/presidents-statement-on-cia-torture-report/