Bo and Sunny playing in the snow (by Pete Souza)
****
Today
11:15: The President meets with Senate Democratic Leader Reid and House Democratic Leader Pelosi
26
Jan
16
148 Responses to “Early Bird Chat”
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Obama White House.gov
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WH Tumblr
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The People’s View
- Follow me at my new venture: Reclaim the Fight Spandan Chakrabarti
- Ignore the bait: Why it’s the right strategy for Democrats to focus SCOTUS fight on health care Spandan Chakrabarti
- BIG: Judge halts Trump administration attempt to shortcut the census Spandan Chakrabarti
- Trump doesn't want peaceful transition of power. Legally, it doesn’t matter. Spandan Chakrabarti
- Fauci goes off on Rand Paul Spandan Chakrabarti
Smartypants
- Jen Psaki's Brilliant Blow to Bothsiderism
- What We Can Learn About Systemic Racism in Jury Selection from the Chauvin Trial
- Biden's Ingenious Plan for Exposing Republican Obstruction
- The Divisive GOP Arguments Against D.C. Statehood Just Took a Turn for the Worse
- "Is America a Racist Country" Is the Wrong Question
Steve Benen
- 'Rock-ribbed' conservative Mike Pence booed during conservative conference
- NYC mayoral candidate: Housing, homelessness and safety are top concerns
- How QAnon conspiracies impact American Christianity
- 'Rise Again' documentary looks at the events leading to Tulsa race massacre
- Michael Kay releases a new book of his 'most fascinating' interviews
A very belated gazillion thanks to Nerdy for yesterday’s posts, legend!
Good Morning .
The Church of the Poisoned Mind ?
Good one, AMK. Hope you’re doing well today.
GM jg. Hope the snowzilla is over for you.
The worst is over, AMK. The doors and driveway are cleared so we can venture out, even if that means a bumpy landing.
you should try skating. 🙂
Great idea! And since I don’t know to skate and never even tried to learn, I’m much less likely to fall than I would just walking.
😀
😆 Morning petal!
Morning Missy.
all my favs in semis. 😎
Serenaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
saniaaaaaa! martinaaaaaa!
Winning cricket too – all too much
yeah, we did good today. always feels good when you beat the monsters in their own backyard.
We ain’t monsters – do not confuse us with the GOP or I will send Tony Abbott to India
send this guy instead. he seems to be saner.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35406995
Definitely saner – still belongs to the wrong party – and multi millionaire.
also. too.
A deadly funnel-web spider with a leg span of 10cm (4in) is the largest specimen ever handed in to Australia’s only venom-milking programme.
The spider, which has been named Big Boy, was caught in bushland in Newcastle, NSW, last week and handed over to the Australia Reptile Park.
The park encourages the public to catch and send in spiders so it can use them to produce anti-venom.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35378879
#caseclosed #pointproven #ipsofacto
Just no – and no and another no.
Ewww!
I’m with you on celebrating two & a half of those two fer sure. 🙂
Never liked Hingis, Mirza’s cool though.
what’s wrong with swiss miss? always had a sunny personality, imo.
Sorry, never saw what you saw. I saw a snotty brat back in the day and then seething jealousy laced with racism when Venus and Serena started to come up. Perhaps she’s changed over the years but I never followed her enough to see it.
Hard for me to get past this kinda shit, imo. First impressions last.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-68836/Hingis-stands-firm-race-row.html
wow, didn’t know that, thanks. those days, just watched matches on telly and never got into its politics. heck, I learned what a blog thingy is only in 2006. Thanks, Obama.
Good Morning TOD back to work for me today.
I just had the chance to read the transcript of the interview that PBO gave to Glenn Thrush and I can’t believe I’m saying this but that was a really good, informative interview by Glenn. Wow I would have never thought that he had any sense at all but whatchaknow he did in that interview. Well done!
Have a great O’Day everyone.
p.s. I know y’all don’t want to hear this but after reading that interview I’m declaring that PBO is quietly rooting for HRC as well. Just sayin….. 😉
Donna, he’s more than quietly rooting for her–he’s praying, hoping and working for her to win. He has tremendous respect for her intelligence and knows she will keep the ship of state on a steady footing. If, as seems likely, she wins the nomination, he will campaign for her with the same dedication he campaigned for himself. And, frankly, Bernie supporters have done more to make me feel like supporting Hillary Clinton than any persuasive campaign she herself could have waged.
jackie, I agree with you about the Sanders supporters. Yesterday I read some article in Huffington Post by some free lance writer title America deserve a First Lady that represent them. It goes on to talk of Sanders’ wife, what a great First Lady she would be and I guess he was saying she would represent America more then the First Lady we have had the last seven years. You know that piss me off, because I speak for myself, I have been and still is very satisfied with the First Lady we have right now. This is one reason why the black community have not warm up to Bernie Sanders and probably won’t.
Bella, we are all going to hear some pretty ugly, racist and sexist stuff in the next year, a lot of it coming from Bernie supporters and an unending load of it from the GOP. Those who think they can criticize our beautiful and beloved FLOTUS and use it as a way of persuading voters to Bernie are in for one very big shock. They have NO idea how magnificent Michelle Obama is and are clueless to the love she has generated among millions Americans, especially young people.
I have the same reaction to Bernie supporters, at least those on twitter, not on TOD. They are rude, act like you’re dumb if you even consider HRC to say something good.
This!
When they actually discuss issues with PBO most media people discover how intelligent and likeable he is. When they throw idiotic statements from the peanut gallery they display their stupid
It’s who they are. No attack is too vicious if it achieves their ends.
Yep. Fascists are like that.
Morning all. I did not see the Democratic town hall last night, but the comments on “The People’s View” suggest that Bernie was insufferable. He was on first apparently, with O’Malley second and HRC last. Good placement for her. Always leave the last impression.
In other news, we are moving on to the freezing rain portion of winter weather entertainment, so lots of slip sliding away for those who venture out.
I tried to listen last night and had to turn it off. Just can’t handle it all now. We are lucking to have 3 sane candidates but none of them are Obama.
Stay safe!!
Gmorning Chips & TOD!!! Congrats Chips on #1 and happy Tuesday everyone! 🙂 🙂
First Dogs are 1st also!
Moooooooooooooooorning Hopefruit!!
Hi Chips, I just read that counting dog years in 7 human year intervals isn’t a true measure. The first dog year equals 15 human years, he second ten and it’s just five for every year after that. So does than make Danny 25?
wimminz in our republic day parade today.
Wow! That is absolutely gorgeous. Wish we had anything half that colorful in our annual Memorial Day parades.
Lovely. Those look like fans.
That s beautiful.
Gorgeous!
Good morning everyone:) Wanted to let you all know that my darling Sadie is in excellent health and in the clear from her Zylitol eating experience….damn expensive chocolate bar. Make sure that you AND your animals stay away from that toxic mess!! We all need to tell these users of fake sugar that we aren’t going to buy their stuff if they put toxic sugar alcohol in their products!
Best. News. Ever!! So, so thrilled DF, give Sadie a monster hug for us – and thank you so much for the warning on this crap, absolutely insane.
Thank you, Chips. It was scary and someone else may not have known to worry about the zylitol….what dangerous junk it is!! PLease check/read the labels of everything you buy…this is in sugarless gum, toothpaste, peanut butter…all kinds of things! If the label lists sugar alcohol, don’t buy it. If it lists zylitol buy name…FOR SURE don’t buy it! They were probably trying to save a buck….while killing our animals in the process! If this happens to dogs, what happens to US over the long term?
I will give Sadie a big hug:) She loves hugs and kisses:)
The very best news about Sadie, df!!! Thank you for informing us about that zylitol toxicity issue, as well.
Fantastic news, DF. You not only saved your Sadie, you may have saved the lives of many others pets with your Zylitol warnings. Thank you.
Wonderful news df! I’m so glad to heae she’s all clear. Happy for you both! 👏🏾🎉😄
I’m sooooo relieved, df!
My Rufus, many years ago, ate an entire box of chocolates. He pushed out a chair, got on it and climbed on the dining room table to get to it. And he was smallish – 25 pounds.
He had the runs for days but he weathered it. We didn’t know in those days about the toxic effects of chocolate, grapes. He ate a ton of grapes – he loved grapes.
Rufus died a month shy of his 19th birthday. Go figure…….
So glad to hear she is doing better. This is the information all of us need to know and we don’t hear it.
Follow this one!
Great tweet. It needs to be retweeted millions of times to get the message out there that President Obama has done the best he could do in the face of relenting Republican opposition.
Thanks Obama!!
He’s performed miracles with this level of GOP opposition and RW press that has taken over the entire MSM.
Miracles.
True dat!
So glad to see this tweet. I am so tired of the “progressives” “emoprogs” blameing Obama for not coming out hard for single payer. I want them to tell exactly how he was suppose to do it. I want to hear if they voted in 2010 or 2014. They let Obama down not the other way around.
I’m coming around to Hillary…smart AND sane:)
Yep, DF. And SANE is going to be a rare and precious commodity in the months ahead. HRC is going up against some of the looniest people in the world and I will be thrilled to see her triumph in the end.
Bernie and Bernie’s supporters are turning me off.
And to Hillary’s credit, she has LEARNED. She is so much better in front of all different kinds of audiences. Her knowledge is vast. In retrospect, there was a lot of head-scratching about her choice as SoS, but I think she learned a great deal from that experience, learned from PBO. I have to give her credit for that. I said repeatedly in 2008, that she had a chance to meet [PBO’s] greatness with her own greatness, and she failed. I am seeing her find her own version of greatness, on her own terms – at least glimmers of it. I respect that.
I watch her in debates and town halls, and she makes me comfortable with her as POTUS, while Bernie makes me less and less comfortable that he understands the depth of the job. He’s dim on FP, and that is inexcusable. Petty, if you don’t agree with him. I’m glad he fought for funding for community health centers in ACA; I’m terrified that he would have withheld his vote if he didn’t get his way, thereby damning the nation to no chance of health care. I do not think Bernie is fit to be POTUS.
I so agree with you 57!!!! If I hear once more about how Obama has disappointed them I will scream. I want to hear specifics about how Bernie is going to implement his ideas with out working to get more Democrats elected to Congress. What has Bernie done for the Democrats, if he doesn’t take any money except from his supporters he will never get elected, I don’t care what they say.
Good morning TOD
An anniversary very much worthy of celebration ….
Bob, that’s majestic and beautiful
Bob, it makes my day when you show images of women fighters. They are truly my heroes.
i SO AGREE….they are fierce……
Whoever is managing Iran’s public relations is absolutely brilliant. They are making all the right moves, while other ME countries make all the wrong ones.
JackieG, I was thinking the same thought
not to sound naive…but this is what happens if you want peace and prosperity and security…i am so reminded of the speech that the President gave to the University students in Israel…challenging them to reach for peace….prosperity and security…however Netanyahu won re-election…
we are at those same crossroads….
HMMMPH.
HMMMPH.
Df, the surprising thing is that ANYONE ever thought Sanders would be an heir of the Obama legacy. He has no understanding or appreciation of it, so how would he carry it on. Clinton is the only one who actually knows what PBO’s achievements have been and values them. If she sometimes says she would do better at this and that, that’s what she’s expected to do, because she can’t run a mini me campaign as an Obama clone.
the surprising thing is that ANYONE ever thought Sanders would be an heir of the Obama legacy
**********************
THISSSSSSSS…
it is truly interesting how he compares his campaign to the President’s while at the same time bashing the President
Perfect, jackie!
This title, I swear… Is there any brian cell’s left in the media? Like PBO wants to treat this like a coronation. He has repeadetly said he isn’t going to support until after the primaries (another wise decision IMO). Hillary is not PBO’s “heir’, she was his employee as SOS.
for my $.02, everything we see from now until election day is about trying to nudge that needle just enough for 2 things. 1) to have Bernie win the Dem Nom, or at least damage Hillary enough so 2) getting the GOP to win the presidency.
americans hate a coronation and I feel that is the point of this misleading article title.
Hillary is not PBO’s “heir’, she was his employee as SOS.
**************************
THISSSSSSS
tell it kid kanga. The title is grade A BS.
regarding who is closer to POTUS…my guess is the candidate closest to POTUS is the person who stood up for FLOTUS the most as she was being ripped apart the last 7+ years, the candidate who spoke the loudest against all who were trying to sabotage the agreement with Iran and the candidate who spoke out against Netanyahu’s antics to undermine the president. Problem is that candidate isn’t running.
Good morning TOD & Happy Tuesday. No school here today still… I see the folks at the bus stop across the street are still standing in the street- as the snow hasn’t yet been plowed on the sidewalk- however I have got to applaud Baltimore for doing a very good job throughout this storm. Hopefully kids will be back in school tomorrow with city transportation fully operational. However, icy rain expected today and tomorrow. Fingers crossed that folks stay safe and take their time.
Animal lovers update: The wild cat I feed- who I’ve been told is really a cat that was dumped by a neighbor living around the corner.. anyhow we call him Groucho (the cat).. I had made a shelter for him, but he didn’t stay, just ate and left on Friday as the snow was beginning to fall. Usually he comes everyday to eat, but of course with all the snow, I really thought he wouldn’t make it back at all. This morning he’s back! Skinny and shivering- and still growling at me as I got a bit too happy to see him and tried to warm him. Anyway, he ate, drank and even purred for a wee minute.
Keeping my mind off politics for the most part, except for POTUS FLOTUS and VP- I just don’t care what kind of havoc the repubs are up to or even too much about Bernie and Hillary.
Wishing all of you a good safe and loving day.
I’ll add this- when the time is right, I will do what I can to help Hillary win.. I don’t want a fake democrat or ANY republican to run this country ever again. So yes, I’m in for Hillary at this point, but please people out there, start recruiting some young blood for our party.
start recruiting some young blood for our party.
this.
yep, we need diversity, youth and new thinking, I believe.
And President Obama is exactly who I’m referring too… if we could clone him for the next century or two, we’d be in fine shape 🙂
AMEN to that one!
Amen indeed 🙂
We do have some interesting young people like Kamala Harris, the Castro twins, to name a few and I’m sure there are others; it would be great to have some candidates of Asian descent as well who will get known through this next cycle.
I agree Betsy about Harris and the Castros, I’d like to see a Castro as VP for Hillary. That would be so good imo. Also as you say: Asians- Native Americans, Muslims, Athiest’s… all -time for new blood.
good morning…..an addendum about recruiting young blood for our party: YES. We need that. This is my gut feeling….HRC, who I think will win in November, will, for many reasons, be a one term president, almost a caretaker. PBO will spend part of the next several years recruiting young people to run at all levels of government. He will groom some promising people, men and women, to make sure the Rethugs don’t destroy the country. Right now, he needs to get HRC in the office, then get his community…..which is huge…..to recruit and elect Democrats at all levels. Just my two cents.
I love that thinking Carolyn, just love it and I can definitely see it. 🙂 🙂
Wise and thoughtful:) If this isn’t what they had in mind, they should! Thanks, carolyn…thinking of you:)
sounds wonderful to me
I was just going to say this! You are sooooo right!
Where is the young talent?!?!?!
hopefully it is up and coming- and will be more so, as Carolyn stated- with POTUS out there guiding, nurturing and mentoring some new leaders.
GE 57F.
Late response, but LOVED Carolyn’s sage analysis. So, so much better than the overpaid mindless MSM pundits that clog our Twitter and online publications.
Based on the AMAZING young people PBO has encountered during his Presidency, these young leaders are out there — in high school, in college now. Thinking about the young CA Native American who started NERDS (in Jr. High I think) and that young woman from KY (also in Jr. High) who asked PBO what can be done to help rural communities.
Just the tip of the iceberg, PBO has met and will continue to nurture/mentor/provide networking contacts to open the door to let them realize their full potential.
Stay safe and warm:) Thank you for taking care of the cat, too!
Yes we will 🙂 thank goodness the roof is still standing and the heat is still working on this 115 yr old house.. I curse it a LOT, but been hugging it for 3 days and saying Thank You house 😉 I wish I could do more for Groucho df, but I took in that little female cat in October and with the other 4 animals I’m so over my limit. Am trying to get him fixed at least, he’s on a list. And I am so so happy for you and Sadie- hugs to you both.
Thank so much, sherijr….been an expensive and scary learning experience, but we got through. My NEXT job, will be to write to the company that produced this chocolate bar mess and let them know that this is not acceptable. I have collected my share of feral kitties over the years, fed them, neutered them…even caught them and brought them into my home….pregnant, to have their babies. We do what we can. Catching them and getting them spayed/neutered would help so much. Good luck! Keep doing the good work. {{{sherijr}}}
Oh that is excellent df- writing the company, yay you! The little female we took in in Oct, was pregnant, we didn’t know that.. but they were all stillborn. She is still wild- but coming along and due to be spayed very soon. Grouch is really wild.. and I don’t know if he can be domesticated, but at least fixing him will control things around here somewhat. Hope 😉
Good Morning, Everyone 🙂
I don’t know if anyone else watches Telenovela, but the opening scene from this week was HILARIOUS to me.
Why Silver Was Wrong About Trump
by BooMan
Tue Jan 26th, 2016 at 01:54:39 AM EST
Back in November, I made a considerable effort to raise objections to Nate Silver’s assessment that Donald Trump had no better than a 20% chance of winning the Republican nomination. Partly, I thought Silver was underestimating Trump’s chances. But I also objected to him telling us to “stop freaking out” because, as I saw it, things wouldn’t be any less catastrophic if Cruz, Carson or Rubio were nominated.
………………………………………………………
Plus, it’s just dangerous and sad and needlessly difficult for everyone if one side of the political divide walks so far out on a limb that no one can reach them anymore. And that’s where we’re headed.
Well, Nate came around slowly, but the scales seem to have finally fallen from his eyes.
Recently, the race took an even stranger turn. There were stories like this one, from Philip Rucker and Robert Costa at The Washington Post, suggesting that party elites were warming to Trump. Soon after, Bob Dole was suggesting that Trump wasn’t such a bad guy, while Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley was appearing with Trump and urging voters to “make America great again.”
The rest of Booman’s blog post has some serious home truths about the GOP.
Steph Curry and Cam Newton praying before the game this week.
https://butisitnew.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/wp-1448669393250.jpeg?w=672&h=372&crop=1
Good morning, Chips, Danny, NW, BTs and TODers.
It’s obvious to everyone:
It’s too late now, meta. I’ve never in my life been subjected to so much yelling and badgering as I have been by Bernie supporters. It’s gotten to the point where I dread going to any meeting that includes the screamers. And heaven help you if you try to fight back. You get shouted down or given some condescending remark about a lack of progressive purity.
Also, I haven’t noticed Sanders being especially respectful to the President or Hillary.
Yup. However, it took the campaign a good long time to try to rein in this left wing tea party mindset. They make the PUMA’s look absolutely tame.
And THANK YOU – I haven’t seen the least bit of respect from the candidate himself. He dissed PP & HRC (his explanations are tepid, IMO). He painted David Brock with a brush from decades ago, calling him “dishonorable”. Yup, Brock was, and then he opened his eyes, left the GOP, and founded MMFA. So if you do not blindly follow Bernie in all things at all times, you are dismissed by him and his campaign.
My tweet from @njedwina:
@cascamike @BernieSanders Too bad you didn’t vet Cornel West’s *respectful* language towards PBO before you hired him. It’s a dealbreaker.
Amen!
This!
It certainly is, meta!!
And, good morning to you 🙂
Good morning and good day, Bobfr. Hope you have a chance for some deep breaths today!
Good West Coast morning Chipsticks & TOD family.
I just heard that Hamilton is coming to our Los Angeles Pantages Theater this year!!!!
GREEN!! If only they’d come to SF!!
You must go, GGail!
Yes meta, I will ! Even if I have to go by myself 😊
I HAVE to see that!!!
OMG, I see the whole tour is going to START in SF!! I have to find a way to get tickets!!
OMG – LINK PLEASE!
at least last time around, the thugs’ token black whasshisname pizza guy stuck around for 2 or 3 rounds. This time the dear doctor seems to be flaming out even before a vote of cast.
bbl …. take care everyone …..
If you’ve ever driven up the coast to Pacifica, this will break your heart. Such a gorgeous area now declared in a state of emergency.
Oh my, I have driven that road many times. I always wondered why the builders were built right on the edge of the cliffs. But we all know there is no weather change.
I ache.
I ache.
I ache.
When will it end?!!!
i can’t stay this enough.
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
She wanted a damn coronation and it’s POTUS’ fault that she can’t win????
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
That really angered me last night, too, rikyrah! THE NERVE.
Indeed!
Rikyrah – we are right here. I agree with you.
POTUS did his job. He was elected twice. He is the most successful President of all times and even more so because his entire Presidency to this day has been filled with vitriol, animosity against him, his family and he was still able to persevere even when it seemed that he had both sides working against him. Coronation my a*s. This will not end well
No Chris Christie though…
Follow ISIS playbook
(Why aren’t these assholes in jail yet?)
And nobody appears to give a damn. They get away with doing whatever they want.
Good Morning TOD family, Chipsticks, Dannysticks, Lurkers and alike.
I heard this year companies with 50 or more employees who work full time are required to provide insurance. Many franchises ahead of this
requirement made all the workers part time. Now they are learning you can’t run a company on part time workers. No loyalty, high turn over, and now they are regretting it. Some are scrabbling to hire full time workers.
These ignorant people had all this time to see if providing insurance would hurt them but would rather be greedy and not think about how this really would affect their businesses. I hope the new full time employees ask for a raise too…
YUM! Iranian saffron is the bomb!
I’ve heard that saffron is very expensive. Never cooked with it before.
It’s expensive but is usually sold in very small amounts and you only need a pinch to flavor a dish. I love it in paella and any rice dish or soup. I even made some delicious saffron ice cream once.
It is hugely expensive. Indian grandma’s/mama’s tale is if you take a scintilla of saffron with milk every day, your baby will be born fair….. wwhhat? I didn’t say it, wimminz did.
It really is a delicacy, my friend cooks with it. Give food a great taste.
Yay!
Chat on
http://theobamadiary.com/2016/01/26/chat-on-143/