01 | April | 2015 | The Obama Diary

Worth a read: President Obama on our new tool to counter cyber threats (via @Medium) → http://t.co/5ISaVdFxN0 pic.twitter.com/BkN1IVy4RP
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) April 1, 2015

Pres Obama calls cyber-attacks against US a national emergency and announces sanctions program http://t.co/ob9HTEFxmg pic.twitter.com/b4qgOqCpTT
— ABC News (@ABC) April 1, 2015

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People need to stop doing this. It is hurtful and makes good people shy away from doing good deeds

https://twitter.com/_StylishM/status/583341512488030209

https://twitter.com/_StylishM/status/583341701051367424

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https://twitter.com/DavidMcQueen/status/513775061690765313

Remembering one of Hip Hop's forefathers, Gil Scott Heron, on his born day. If ya don't know, now ya know! #legend pic.twitter.com/nuMGRE9pjU
— CrossColoursLA (@CrossColoursLA) April 1, 2015

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LOL. This is what happens when you’re a bigot. You want to be a racist, a bigot, or prejudiced? You deserve to be mocked. To those saying, “this is so inappropriate,” good for your privilege. You’re not the one being marginalized. Bravo to those fighting back

Yelp users troll Indiana pizzeria that refuses to cater gay weddings. http://t.co/Uh4HKJCRd9 pic.twitter.com/HE1spOJgOk
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) April 1, 2015

https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/583398739831816193

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Broward woman's life sentence commuted by President @BarackObama http://t.co/nJ2x4o5JMM pic.twitter.com/yM0JlNycHL
— South Florida Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) April 1, 2015

Wrongfully convicted man Glenn Ford spent 30 years on death row, now denied restitution http://t.co/NLm2LDw3Zu pic.twitter.com/MNu9lGlgwn
— HuffPost BlackVoices (@blackvoices) April 1, 2015

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JUST IN: Secretary Kerry will remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday to continue Iran nuclear talks, according to the State Dept.
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 1, 2015

State Dpt. on Iran talks: Sec. of State John Kerry "will remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday morning to continue the negotiations.”
— ABC News (@ABC) April 1, 2015

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Good read

I'm hoping my Af Am friends on twitter will give me some feedback on this one => Democrats and Dog Whistles http://t.co/QEYdG2gJ1z
— Nancy LeTourneau 🇺🇦 (@Smartypants60) April 1, 2015

Sitting down for a conversation with White House photographer Pete Souza: http://t.co/NoYt0UH8yZ pic.twitter.com/JP7yZzzPrD
— PetaPixel (@petapixel) March 31, 2015

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Wow. You visit a plantation but don’t want to learn about the slaves and only want to whitewash their existence. What a horrible person

We're debuting a new slavery tour at the historic mansion today, and so far it's going very well.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

Most of the tourists have been in a good mood and receptive to information about slavery.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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With one notable exception.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

One lady stayed late after my coworker’s tour. “What is your name?” she demanded of the guide.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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My coworker gave her name. The tourist continued, “Well, I just want you to know that was the worst tour I’ve ever been on.”
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

Tourist: “You talked way too much about the slaves and not enough about the [family that owned them]."
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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My coworker was like, "Well, my job title is slavery specialist."
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

The tourist kept barging on. "EVERYBODY owned slaves back then. EVERYBODY had servants. I came here to learn abt the [slaveowning family]."
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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The other people in the tour were staring at this point. The lady was full-on yelling at my coworker.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

Tourist: "I've been coming here for years, & I wanted to hear about [slaveowning family]. You just talked about the slaves the whole time."
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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My coworker tried to gently interrupt the yelling. The tourist yelled, "CAN I JUST FINISH."
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

When she had tired herself out, the offending tourist stormed away.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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Presumable in search of more information about white people.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

She'd probably assumed that since the guide was white, she'd be safe from all this slavery talk.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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Anyway, after she left, the next tourist family to exit the building came up to my coworker. Their 13yo daughter gave my coworker a hug.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

"You didn't deserve that," said the parents. "Your tour was great." "It made me think about slavery in a new way," their daughter said.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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My coworker came back to the break room shaken.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

We all assured her that when racists hate you enough to want to scream in your face, it’s cuz you must be doing something right.
— Af Am History Fail (@afamhistfail) April 1, 2015

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Gov. Asa Hutchinson said his son had asked him to veto the Arkansas religious freedom bill http://t.co/f46JhtCevX
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 1, 2015

Hutchinson considering an executive order to disallow discrimination in workforce for LGBT. #arpx #arleg
— TalkBusinessPolitics (@RobyBrock) April 1, 2015

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At least Hutchison, unlike Pence, admits that the bill differs from the federal RFRA. Pence insisted, wrongly, that they were the same.
— Sarah Posner (@sarahposner) April 1, 2015

More Arkansas Gov Hutchinson. Says he would accept a new bill from state lawmakers that mirrors federal religious freedom measure.
— Charlie Kaye (@CharlieKayeNews) April 1, 2015

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When offensive and stupid April Fools “jokes” go wrong

An apology to our readers http://t.co/qECZzQN0cN
— The Cavalier Daily (@cavalierdaily) April 1, 2015

https://twitter.com/RippDemUp/status/583022772730757120

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The cops burned his body. W.T.F.

Death of man shot by police after Hurricane Katrina ruled as homicide http://t.co/aqfDSQ5kY5
— The Guardian (@guardian) April 1, 2015

FBI confirms that one of bureau's "most wanted terrorist" is dead http://t.co/txroudrtiZ pic.twitter.com/4Sx2rVddf0
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 1, 2015

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No country has ever launched physician-assisted suicide on the scale now underway in Canada http://t.co/dZ0UuGXvDw #pbsnews
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 1, 2015

Arming college kids is a terrible, terrible idea.

Thank you for speaking out, Bryant Gumbel! pic.twitter.com/a7fRXaeauL
— Everytown (@Everytown) April 1, 2015

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White supremacy in a nutshell as explained by Ali

https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/583417386730135552

Police killed more than 100 people in March http://t.co/RyFbLo2pjN pic.twitter.com/3OALZjH0JU
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) April 1, 2015

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On point commentary by Sandy1110 in response to the Ali tweet

I think he’s on the money, Chips. Think about Megan Kelly on Fox – I think she was the one who went into a snit about Jesus and Santa Claus being white. I remember Bobby Kennedy putting out the question “What if Jesus is black?” Some people don’t want to go there. As Muhammad Ali said, this nation is conditioned to believe that white is the best at everything.

It also ties in with what LBJ said 50 years ago – to paraphrase, if you give the lowest white man something to look down on, he’ll empty his pockets for you. That was how southern politicians won whites – making them think that any and all of them were better than the BEST black man. That’s why we have the Sarah Palins and Tom Cottons – clearly not sharp tools – coming at this Harvard Law Review, with-honors President with unprecedented disrespect and arrogance.

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https://twitter.com/Luvvie/status/583298551494496256

These are the headlines you write when Nigerian elections don't live up to your "widespread violence" narrative. pic.twitter.com/HrJ2dpkz2k
— Atane Ofiaja (@atane) April 1, 2015

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So much facepalm. You’re driving while Black, Isaiah. It doesn’t matter what car you drive. The cops will stop you

https://twitter.com/SoulRevision/status/583334453466009601

https://twitter.com/SoulRevision/status/583340209712033792

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Prius won't save you from #DWB @IWashington i know. trust.
— ?st (@questlove) April 1, 2015

lol @brianepps not even, asked a cop 1ce after 2 stops in one night, he told me "looks like u stole college student car
— ?st (@questlove) April 1, 2015

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Of course, Don Lemon loves foolishness like this

https://twitter.com/IWashington/status/583369973482962944

https://twitter.com/SoulRevision/status/583340837532274688

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MORE: NJ Sen. Bob Menendez indicted on corruption charges, accused of abusing office to aid donor: http://t.co/GSrUrHjrzL
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 1, 2015