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All Times Eastern
10:00AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
11:35AM: President Obama welcomes the Wounded Warrior Ride
12:45PM: Press Secretary Josh Earnest holds the press briefing
****
124 Responses to “Early Bird Chat: President Obama On Pollution & Thought-Controlled Technology”
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Obama White House.gov
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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
- The Lie Embedded in Carlson's Great Replacement Theory
- Can Democrats Work With the "New Right" on Anti-Trust Issues?
- Alito's Embrace of Junk Science Will Make Several Forms of Contraception Illegal
- Biden: "This Is No Longer Your Father's Republican Party"
- The Only Way to Fight Back Against a Radicalized Supreme Court
Steve Benen
- President Biden arrives in South Korea for Asia trip
- Tom Nichols: Three signs Putin may be reassessing his plans
- Steve Rattner: I'm not predicting an immediate recession but road ahead doesn't look great
- Joe: Trump still has sway in the party, but it's nothing like it was in '20
- Petraeus: Ukraine has won by keeping Russia from achieving its main objective
The Obama Diary 
Morning, Nerdy. Thanks for starting us off so early. Hope Chips and her mom are doing okay.
Good Morning, JackieG…earliest bird in the village this morning!!! 😀
Have a fantastic day!
Morning, Jackie.
Good morning everyone, hope chips and her mom are doing well.
Good Thursday, Nerdy…TOD Family!!!
Nerdy, thanks for getting us going in the village this morning and, along with the other bt’s, keeping things going over recent days.
Everyone, enjoy your day!!!
Good Thursday, Swbluega!
Good morning Ms. Chips, Danny and TOD family, I hope all is well with everyone this lovely Thursday morning. Congrats Jackie, on being first this morning.
Thanks Nerdy, for opening up TOD’ville this morning. ⭐👌👊
To all, I hope that your classy, suave, and Dame (e.g. Dudette) / Casanova (e.g. Danny-boy) persona is on full display today. ❤ ❤ ❤
Thank God that President Obama is still the President of The United States of America. ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆
Thank you Nerdy, you’ve been amazing~ Best wishes to Chips & Mom- for a full & speedy recovery. Good Morning, TOD, Happy Thursday to everyone.
Joining Sherijr in thanking Nerdy for filling in with wit and spirit.
Thanks, NCLB.
Thank you, Sherijr.
you are so very welcome, Ms. Wonka 😉
Good morning TODVille.
Warm thoughts for Chips and her mother.
Congrats to the Jacqui, the gold medalist this morning.
One knows it’s silly season when a Kasich ad wakes you up early morning in blue NYC.
White privilege in full display (this man should be in jail) next to the hypocrisy of the GOP (railing after Clinton while he had fornication young men).
“Fornicated”
Gag. I heard this morning that his attorneys are questioning if the “actions actually meet the definition of abuse.”
I almost lost it.
Good morning TOD!
So, I see #MambaOut and #DemocraticWhores have been trending at the top of the charts all night ….
Kobe shinned ….
Bernie CRASHED AND BURNED thanks to yet another #bernieboybigot ….
…. nothing surprising, therefore ….
…. hope all of you have a fine Thursday … bbl …
#TrustBarack
He has to go. I want Hillary to crush him in the debate tonight and I want her to crush him in NY. He is a menace. He is as destructive has Trump.
Imagine who he would put in his Cabinet. Who would he have run the administration? Would he be capable of making complex decisions? He is a menace, he is breeding nothing but hate and false hope.
I. Want. Him. GONE.
G’morning Nerdy & TOD. Thanks Nerdy for this wonderful early bird round-up! Sending positive thoughts to Chips and her mom.
Good Morning, Hopefruit2!
Words from Ukraine’s likely next President ….
Little doubt that the Obama Administration would be very satisfied with that result!!
GM, TOD ohan?
Thoughts and prayers for Chips and her mom. I so hope that both are doing well.
Many thanks to NW, amk, and LP for keeping the village running so beautifully while Chips is away.
Have a happy and prosperous day everyone.
Should be: GM, TOD ohana.
Take care everyone …..
Morning everyone:)
From your lips…
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/house-2016-how-a-democratic-wave-could-happen/
Morning, Df. Ultimately it’s on us to make this happen. We’ve got to work like we’ve never done before.
All about GOTV
Good NW and thank you! Good Thursday morning to TODville.
Two terms, baby!!
Paging Bernie Sanders and his corrupt surrogates….
Good Morning, Everyone 🙂
Posted without comment.
WATCH: Bikini-clad 70-year-old woman stuns in pole dancing performance on ‘Italia’s Got Talent’
BY NICOLE BITETTE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, April 7, 2016, 11:52 AM
Mamma Mia!
A 70-year-old Japanese woman stunned the judges on an episode of “Italia’s Got Talent” when she dropped her robe, showed off her toned body and pulled off an incredible pole dancing routine.
The woman, known only as Tomoko, came to Italy 43 years ago to study opera, but then decided to pursue theatre.
She does not tell the judges what she is about to do perform losing the robe. Judge Luciana Littizzetto’s mouth drops as Tomoko starts dancing on the pole.
WOW!! She’s awesome!
Meravigliosa è corretta! (Meravigliosa means amazing, wonderful, magnificent).
Thanks Rikyrah! What an inspiring way to begin this morning! I’m sharing this with every woman I know.
She is SPECTACULAR!!!!!!! Thank you rikyrah 🙂
Magnifica! Italia has changed a lot since I was a student there in late sixties, early 70s.
Wow, I just turned 70 yesterday, she is my hero. I am in awe of her strength and agility.
Wow! She is incredible!
what an excellent swansong from kobe.
Totally delicious, amk!!!!!!! 🙂
I didn’t see the game and I’m not a Kobe fan, but do you think the game was played in his favor? They were down by 15, then Kobe becomes the hero 😉
I caught the highlights. He was brilliant. And no, it was not a fixed match.
Ditto.
Go Clippers!
Hahahaha!
We watch both the Lakers and the Warriors game, we have picture in picture. I’m not a Kobe fan, but an old time Lakers fan, I don’t think it was played for him to win. The Warriors put on a spectacular show.
gm tod – many thanks NW & sending best thoughts to Chips and family
Good West Coast morning NW & TOD family. Thank you NE, amk and LP for stepping up to keep the village humming along while our dear Chipsticks is taking loving care of her Mom.
We appreciate you all 💕
vvvv
uh huh
uh huh
Madigan blasts Rauner’s agenda, says governor wants government shutdown
By Monique Garcia , Rick Pearson and Celeste Bott
Chicago Tribune
……………………………………..
In a rare, 10-minute speech, Madigan ratcheted up his rhetoric against Rauner, delivering a scathing address in which he accused the former private equity investor of trying to make good on an early campaign threat to shut down state government by pursuing a “personal agenda” aimed at harming the middle class.
Speaker for all but two years since 1983, the 13th Ward Democrat told the House he has a long record of working with governors of both parties, even ones with whom he’s had strong disagreements. The situation with Rauner is different, Madigan said.
“Over the last 13 months, compromise has been very difficult to achieve. Never before has the state gone this long without a budget. Every other governor that I have worked with has negotiated with the General Assembly in good faith to help the people of Illinois and to ensure that the people of our state would not needlessly suffer,” Madigan said. “The fact is the current budget crisis is completely avoidable. While this crisis was avoidable, Gov. Rauner has refused to put an end to the crisis.”
Then Madigan, a week shy of his 74th birthday, muscled through a plan to spend nearly $4 billion on higher education and social services, which have languished without state funding amid the recordlong budget stalemate. Rauner has threatened to veto the measure, arguing there isn’t enough money to pay for the spending.
I am beyond furious:
Did you catch the quote at the end, “No one should have to join a party to exercise their right to vote.”….?
Well, uh, yes, in a primary election, to elect a nominee of the party, they should! If you are set on not joining a party then you have to sit out the party’s process to elect its nominee. Your independent a** can vote all it wants to in the general!
grrrrrr!!!!!!! It’s to nominate the candidate OF THE PARTY. This is not a GE!!!!!!!
“Zach Handler, a 29-year-old actor who lives in the East Village, is one of the shut-out independents who is considering showing up at the polls to protest the rules.
He’s a progressive who favors Sanders but didn’t know about the deadline to switch his party affiliation until it had passed.
“As a direct action, I’d love to just go and have the awkward moment with the poll worker and make them explain to me why I can’t vote even though I’m a registered voter and taxpayer,” Handler told The Post.”
So Zach doesn’t understand that a primary election is for party members to select a candidate. I know that & I live down under. Zach has been able to vote for 11 years and still doesn’t know the rules – must have never before voted in a primary election!!!
I am beyond furious
In my part of the world, few people belong to political parties. Candidates are chosen by the local party branches (usually less than 100) combined with the party officials (your super delegates). I really don’t understand it, because I have never been part of it – if I wanted to be, I would join a party – really not hard. The guy is just stupid & he is probably being told that by anyone he knows who understands the process. Bernie and Trump are becoming one of a kind in terms of misleading their supporters.
“…must have never before voted in a primary election!!!”
That’s just it. Many don’t pay attention until time for the general election so they may not be familiar with the rules; not to mention the rules vary from state to state.
As each day goes by, more and more I wish Bernie had not been allowed to run as a Democrat.
Wouldn’t you think Bernie would be telling his rally goers to be sure they were registered to vote in the Primary and to go to his website to find the information? I do not even think Bernie is aware of the rules. Again, just like Trump, all talk. I remember Obama making similar requests at his rallies and having places for the voters to check. I also remember being able to ask about how Democrats abroad voted then telling my daughter who was in China for a couple of years at that time. I even sent her Obama’s two books Audacity and Dreams that she read and passed around to her American friends who then also voted for Obama. I also donated both books to my tribal library and the librarian told me lots of people checked them out telling her they decided to vote for him. The book availability was decidedly successful. Obama’s supporters were more positively proactive than Bernie’s might I add smarter too. Hee hee.
According to some comments on The People’s View on his website they did have dates that you had to change your registration by, if you wanted to vote in the closed primaries. Unfortunately they didn’t bother to check, and of course they are going to blame somebody else, and try to disrupt the process. Of course, IMO, Sanders is responsible for this, because he hasn’t been honest with his supporters. and he’s counting on them to do this. Luckily, they’re and have never been the democratic base, but are the same people that vote for Nader and Paul. We could win without them, if we concentrate on GOTV for the general election.
Let me get this straight.
YOU can’t vote, but your azz is gonna show to protest other people who followed the rules?
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
Yes. And understand, this is BS’ idea of governance. Remember, he doesn’t give a damn about the make-up of Congress. He wants millions of protestors on the Capitol steps if he can’t get his way. So this tactic is just an extension of Bernie’s own idea of how government works.
I had heard anecdotal reports of non-voters flooding caucus sites and polls to keep Dems from voting, but unless I had evidence I wasn’t going to believe it. Now, we can see that it is true. I know older caucus goers couldn’t find seats, couldn’t stand in line, and then the Berniebots ran out the clock so these people went home instead of staying to cast a second or third vote.
Is there no one in the media to call them out?!?!
And I’m expecting the debate tonight to be nothing but a hatefest against Hillary.
Bernie Sanders is as dangerous as Donald Trump. He believes the b.s. that if things completely collapse, progressive Utopia will result. I am sick and tired of these bastards playing with the lives of millions.
GM 57F.
Agree that #Berniebots ooze their emoprog privilege as if it *accomplishes* something other than making them feel good about… themselves.
The good news is that NY is a closed primary.
I guess NY wanted to discourage ballot-stuffing (i.e., Dems re-registering to vote for Trump to stick it to the GOP), but registration deadline 6 months before voting seems excessive to me.
Sounds like NY is prepared for #Berniebot tantrums, and is the state the of utmost importance in MSM circles, so if any voting problems surface they will quickly draw attention — unlike Arizona and Wisconsin problems which were largely ignored by MSM (I think, have pretty much been largely ignoring MSM, LOL).
Arapaho, new voters could register up until March 25; the October deadline is only for those who already are registered with a party and want to switch their registration to a different party. It prevents the last minute switching of party affiliation and interfering with OPP (other people’s primaries 🙂 ) that we’ve been seeing in the open primary states.
Agreed.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2016_04/doddfrank_continues_to_work_as060257.php
Dodd-Frank Continues to Work as Planned
“Secondly, this is the process that was put in place by Dodd-Frank to break up the “too big to fail banks” when/if they failed any of the three items above and posed a threat to American taxpayers. The proposal Bernie Sanders is putting forward would pre-empt this process and break them up regardless of whether or not they pose a risk. Perhaps that is something to be considered if your goals are about reducing their political power or punishing them for their past misdeeds. But to the extent that Americans are worried about having to bail them out again, it is important to know the steps that have already been put in place to prevent that from happening.”
I didn’t vote for him…..and want an apology from those who did.
…………………….
Gov. Rauner’s interim grade: An epic F
By Eric Zorn
Bruce Rauner is a failed governor.
Fifteen months after the wealthy Republican private equity investor was sworn in to his first elected office, the state he was elected to lead is in worse shape by nearly every measure than the state he inherited from his Democratic predecessor.
The backlog of unpaid bills is higher, as is the unemployment rate and the largest-in-the-nation unfunded public pension liability. We were one of just six states that showed a net loss in private sector jobs last year. Accordingly, our credit rating has continued to fall, meaning it will cost us even more than anticipated to dig out of a financial hole that’s growing at an estimated rate of $33 million every day.
Illinois still doesn’t have — and at this rate probably never will have — a budget for the fiscal year that began last July, which has put many human service providers and public colleges and universities into a financial crisis.
…………………
By refusing to negotiate on the budget until the Democrats who control the General Assembly enact key provisions of his pro-business, anti-union agenda, he’s not only generated an unending number of heart-tugging stories of disadvantaged and disabled people suffering from a loss of state funding, he’s also created a climate of uncertainty that makes employers and credit-rating agencies wary.
I am wondering how the hell that man was elected Governor in Illinois.
If people had voted, Illinois would not have been saddle with that Republican Governor.
Any Chicago peeps wanna tell me why Burns split?
……………
CHICAGO 04/12/2016, 12:00pm
Sophia King, new 4th Ward alderman, is not nobody nobody sent
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s choice to replace retired Ald. Will Burns (4th), is not a nobody nobody sent. Far from it.
Sophia King is the wife of Alan King, a house music disc jockey/Chicago attorney who is a close friend and basketball-playing buddy of President Barack Obama.
That just might be how she came to the attention of Emanuel, who served as Obama’s first White House chief of staff.
That doesn’t negate the fact that Sophia King has an established track record of her own as founder and president of Harriet’s Daughters, described by the mayor’s office as a “a non-profit group of professional women that works . . . to create and support policies and processes that secure employment and wealth creation opportunities for African-American neighborhoods.”
She should have kept on driving right past the store….wtf.
I have never asked my mother’s advice on tinned soup. Everything about this discussion is weird. I do wonder if their marriage will survive this campaign. Even Romney & the wife sounded saner.
Stepford wife.
Ouch.
GM DF.
Lisa Ling was unfortunately attacked by Twitter last night, but methinks there’s some tension today in the Ling-Song household.
“While my husband and I agree on most issues, we are supporting different candidates in this Democratic primary.”
Lisa Ling is a HUGE HRC supporter. More…
Cindy’s photo didn’t appear in tweet, so am trying again.
Here’s Lisa’s Facebook response in RT’able format:
More…
OK, must be operator error here.
Ignore my tweet with Cindy’s picture since photo now appears for me (sigh), here’s one more tweet about #WhatWasHeThinking @paulysong:
❤️
This is so crazy, think of all the healthcare, education, housing, jobs, training, infrastructure, clean energy, training, child care, sick days, pension, retirement, we could pay for if these lazy corporate moochers paid their fare share of taxes!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/fifty-biggest-us-companies-stashing-13trn-offshore-a6983256.html
So, are we to understand that Bernie is a self-identified Independent “w***e”?
I’m a tad baffled as to why Hillary doesn’t nail him. She lets him define her, and she continues to make her case that she is the best choice for the GE. But I’m sick of Bernie doing all the defining & Hillary doing none of it. God knows what this debate is going to look like tonight.
Maybe Hillary is allowing Bernie to show himself (and his surrogates) to the voters, warts and all … many potential voters for him are being turned off when they do … and thus feels she can take her time rebutting everything that crops up. But I wouldn’t give up on her yet.
We shall see what tonight brings!
This is why I could never be a politician. I hope you’re right, I hope the strategy works. He kept closing the gap in polls for weeks by demonizing her. I hope you’re right.
No way have I given up on her!
I don’t know if I’m right, but it’s the first thing I thought, when you mentioned this. Here’s to brighter days (and the conclusion of this primary!)!!!
i think that Hillary has to remain focused….moving forward…to do a tit for tat allows him to set her agenda….
I know. I was just on a bit of a frustrated rant.
((((57)))))…i feel you….
Bernie’s supporters need to be won back to her side after the Primary. Attacking their hero can do no wrong would not help Hillary win their support in electing her to the WH. I am not so sure that Bernie will help her with them either based on his helping the Democratic Party in this election so far.
I know, I know. I just get so frustrated! While they’re tearing down the real hero, PBO, & the best candidate to continue his legacy. BS, his campaign and the supporters have zero interest in how the Obama coalition feels. We’re just evil, money-worshipping fools and crooks.
lips pursed
Geesh 😯
I’m gonna our President immensely.
“miss”
The only thing missing is a mouth guard!!
You’re the Side Piece…what have you got to be mad about?
………………….
Scorned mistress gets best revenge on millionaire exec
By Julia Marsh
April 14, 2016 | 2:14am
A spurned ex-mistress has made the worst fears come true for a millionaire insurance exec who tried to silence her with a nondisclosure agreement — claiming publicly that he whined to her about his failure to perform in bed and illegally lent her money from a family foundation, court papers state.
Katherine Nelson, 40, claims that 73-year-old Robert Rosenkranz — head of the $10 billion Delphi Financial Group — refused to take Viagra before a romp in bed in July 2014 and turned out to be impotent.
“Sadly, my young-stud days are over,” she says he admitted in an email, according to court papers.
More seriously, she has accused him of using company funds to give her cash on a monthly basis and of loaning her $60,000 from the Rosenkranz Foundation in 2014.
Apparently he didn’t fully vet his side piece.
Um….
Um……
The power of the Peen.
………………
Consultant who bedded the enemy ruins months-long corruption probe
By Josh Kosman April 2, 2016 | 1:47am
A former top financial consultant for Caesars Entertainment’s bankrupt operating unit gambled away her career on an affair with an adversary at the parent company.
Melissa Kibler Knoll, a former senior managing director at Mesirow Financial Consulting, was hired by creditors of the bankrupt unit to investigate whether Caesars’ private-equity owners illegally stripped away assets from the operating unit before putting it into Chapter 11.
But a judge ruled that Knoll’s work was “tainted” by the months-long affair she had with a lawyer for Caesars’ parent company — the target of her investigation.
NOT going to let this garbage pass.
I am more convince that Bernie and his supporters ( maybe not all) think this President was a failure.
You hit the nail on the head bella, Sanders has a palpable contempt for the President. Bernie like some African Americans wanted President Obama to walk through the White House wearing a dahshiki with a black power salute and cure all the social ills that have plagued most communities, and do it with a scowl on his face.
I am not a fan of Bernie.
Sanders has been running from the get-go on “Obama is a failure”. He surrounds himself with surrogates who have nothing but complaints against PBO, especially Cornel West.
and would be declined even more if Medicaid expansion was done in every state.
Pathetic
it’s simple. privatize the profit. socialize the loss.
I love these metrics. Inflation, excluding food & fuel. Pretty soon, the only inflation that will matter will be the price of iPhones and movie tickets.
As a senior who is working full time and trying to crunch numbers so I can at least cut back on hours, the inflation of “food & fuel” are kinda important.
Good Morning Everybody.
LIVE NOW: Nancy Pelosi Press Conference – http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
meta, when I read that I thought about POTUS speaking at Malia graduation. Him and FLOTUS sitting there watching Malia Obama walk across that stage.
Very emotional day for POTUS, that’s for sure.
Good morning – and thanks, Nerdy, for what you do every day for us and President Obama, and how you and the other sweethearts have helped keep us going while Chips is spending time with her mother! Hi, Chips!
Carry on. 🙂
You rock, Ms. J’OB!
Very big earthquake this morning in Japan with many large aftershocks. Serious damage. Please keep them in our thoughts.
No tsunami warning yet.
Oh I am so sorry to hear that.
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2016/04/14/wounded-warriors-ride/