144 Responses to “A Presidential Q&A”
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The People’s View
- Follow me at my new venture: Reclaim the Fight
- Ignore the bait: Why it’s the right strategy for Democrats to focus SCOTUS fight on health care
- BIG: Judge halts Trump administration attempt to shortcut the census
- Trump doesn't want peaceful transition of power. Legally, it doesn’t matter.
- Fauci goes off on Rand Paul
- Rule 44: Why Obamacare is not lost even in a deadlocked Supreme Court, but only if Biden wins
- Time to suit up. This is war.
- BREAKING: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed
- Bothsidesism comes to fact-checking: CNN's “fact-check” calling Biden ad 'misleading' proves the opposite
- Pardon me: How Donald Trump's stooges conspired with Julian Assange to exonerate Russia and undermine US Intlligence
Smartypants
- Durham to Right Wingers: "Blame Hillary"
- That Time When Refusing to Negotiate With Hostage-Takers Worked
- The Other Christian Nationalists: Leonard Leo and Opus Dei
- Hawley Demonstrates That He's an Ignorant Liar
- DeSantis Board Votes to Counter-Sue Disney Over Something...Anything
- Hunter Biden's Laptop Is a Total Nothingburger
- What DeSantis Couldn't Say in Response to Disney's Lawsuit
- Disney Skewers DeSantis With His Own Words
- Populism Without Civil Rights Is Fascism
- Glenn Greenwald gets triggered by smart competent women like Rep. Stacey Plaskett
Steve Benen
- Christie enters race, blasts Trump as 'lonely, self-consumed...mirror hog'
- Writer who left day job and traveled the country details experience in 'America the Beautiful?'
- Army Secretary: 'Woke military' criticisms are undermining our recruiting
- Everyone in the golf world caught off guard by merger, says writer
- The impact of big tech rolling back misinformation measures
- Steve Rattner breaks down what's driving America's sour mood
- Joe: Gov. Newsom is calling out 'abhorrent' moves by DeSantis
- Richard Haass: PGA/LIV Golf merger a question of 'when' and not 'if'
- Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, testifies before grand jury
- 'Kimberly Akimbo' star says show has taught her the preciousness of life
The Obama Diary 
GA, TOD!
Headed to the Early Bird so that I can catch up… BB in a few…
Social media has helped to change this perception. Too many people refused to believe what life is still like for many A-A’s in this country. We are far from “post-racial” (curses on the first know-nothing who put this out there after PBO’s election). Even when the evidence is out there for the world to see, little changes.
ON MY FB..ABSOLUTELY CORRECT……………….
Donald J. Trump ask for black folks votes, while I do not assume to speak for all blacks, I just would love to ask Trump. Do he remember “B-I-R-T-H-E-R ?
That’s B-I-R-T-H-E-R.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My saddest, most heartbreaking day of this administration is when PBO showed his long form birth certificate on national TV. All that it did was embolden creeps like DT and led all of us to this national nightmare. If you can make a Black man who is president “show his papers” you can bring him down is what DT and his unleashed knuckle-draggers and opportunists believed. Hateful racists cannot be reasoned with. They never cared for facts and no kind of proof about anything that gives the lie to their hatred will be accepted.
Well hold that thought because I think President Obama’s final mic drop is gonna make history.
It was a heartbreak CEB and today so many in the GOP still believe the President was born in Kenya. The power of persuasion is strong. It was not, however, a smart idea for Trump to join that party – he will see the result of his hate later in the year & with luck it will bring down his business empire alongside the demise of the GOP.
Trump has a nerve asking for anything from Black people except forgiveness for his well known anti-Black racism.
Hopefully those 61 can find homes elsewhere before President Obama leaves office.
Thanks so much for posting this Q & A, NW. If any of you missed it, be sure to watch. It’s a great overview of the wisdom, leadership and inspiration of our dear President.
I had read something earlier this year — I think it was about UnitedHealth.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-insurers-complaints-threats
While the losses that UnitedHealth incurred were very real, they were to some extent *self-inflicted*.
For many reasons, UnitedHealth’s circumstances were different than other insurers: it sat out of the exchange for a year, the individual market was never a significant interest of their company, and their plans were mis-priced for the competition, experts said.
Peter Lee, the director of California’s exchange, accused UnitedHealth of using the ACA as scapegoat for its own miscalculations.
“Instead of saying, ‘We screwed up,’ they said, ‘Obamacare is the problem and we may not play anymore,’ ” Lee said in an interview with California Healthline. “It was giving an excuse to Wall Street and throwing the Affordable Care Act under the bus.”
=====
But there was also speculation that the complaints and threats of withdrawing from the marketplace is a way to influence how [ACA] evolves in the future, health care experts told TPM.
Adding to the current dynamic is the upcoming election. A new Congress and president, especially a Republican in the White House, could have major implications for the law and for the requirements the Department of Health and Human Services places on insurers.
“You can bet those insurers will make sure that they’re at the table and have as much leverage as possible,” Larry Levitt, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said in an interview with TPM. “Creating an environment where people are worried about insurers losing money and whether they’ll participate in the marketplaces or not increases their leverage.”
Happy that Kaiser is not bailing. I have been very pleased with their service. They really believe in preventive medicine. I love when they call me to remind me that is time for blood work, etc. I usually get my test results very quickly, and I know whether my results are within normal limits.
Former Breibait editor Ben Shaprio unloaded on the right wing website chairman Stephen K. Bannon, on Wednesday after news broke that Donald J. Trump had appointed him as campaign CEO. Bannon is a legitimately sinster figure Sharpiro who left Breibart earlier this year in a fiery exit.bannon is a vindictive nasty figure. Look like Trump hire someone just like him, a disgusting racists nasty rat.
Ben Shapiro is a nauseating person but I guess a broken clock is right at least once per day.
I imagine Sharpiro and Bannon both are nauseating disgusting person.
While Republican leadership insists that the next president will nominate the ninth justice to the Supreme Court, a cadre of Republican senators is pushing a plan to confirm Merrick Garland if their party fails to take the White House this November.
The best contingency plan in case Republicans lose, supporters of the plan argue, is to confirm Garland during the lame-duck session in December before Hillary Clinton would take office in January.
Only three Republican senators have publicly committed their support to the idea so far—Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Mark Kirk of Illinois.
Why? What difference would that make? Why not confirm him right now? They are just running their mouths. I hope President Clinton re-nominates Garland and then gets to select several more Justices next year since RBG has already said she is going to step down when we get a new Democratic President.
Kirk will be a lame duck come November so seems suitable for him to be talking about lame duck sessions.
GA TODville.
My local news radio station hasn’t aired national @CBSradionews since early this morning, so have no idea what the lead stories are for them today.
@knx1070 is pretty much covering the #BlueCutFire in the Wrightwood area — have a really bad feeling about this fire because it’s windy there, but not our typical Autumn-Winter Santa Anas, which bring hurricane-strength winds from the desert (wind from north in LA area, in San Diego it’s from the east) — there’s pretty much nothing you can do when Santa Anas are gusting but get out of the way of the fire.
But the winds in the #BlueCutFire are coming from all directions — completely unpredictable for the firefighters and just heard a radio report of teams of firefighters heading into 100-foot flames. So, so scary, hope everyone is safe.
Really impressed with FEMA (over 80,000 people have evacuated their homes):
FEMA has also updated their app to provide real-time updates on emergency conditions that are fed directly to first responders:
Here’s a video taken a couple of hours ago of the #BlueCutFire (and conditions are even worse now):
This week has been total immersion in preschool world and I do so miss my TOD friends and my daily doses of current events. Update from colleagues tells me that we are expecting a very large crowd at our Latina Fiesta on August 27. The ‘to do’ tasks are mounting, but it’s a joy to know that the positive word has spread about our event within the Latino community. Crowds are a perfect opportunity for voter registration and getting the message out and I look forward to doing that in a major way.
Jackie, please send the details — location & time for Latina Fiesta. As my family reunion was this past weekend, I’ll try to get over there for your event. Maybe I’ll even entice Prettyfoot and SJTerri to take the ride with me…
Jazz, it’s Saturday, August 27, Beautex Park, Lebanon, PA from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm and it includes a Latino idol contest. Would totally love to see you all!!.
Wish I could be there to help register voters! Hope all goes well and thank you, jackieg
Is that on Van Buren St? If yes, I’ll program it in “Waze”
Yes! It’s behind Van Buren. Should see a lot of people walking that way. I’ll e-mail you my cell, so you can call if you get lost!!
Hi, Alycee! I’d love to come help, if you are able to go. Please let me know for sure when and where we could meet up.
OUTSTANDING! I’ll send you an email on Sunday.
Great!
Wish I could come. It sounds delightful! Hope you register a ton of new voters!
Go POTUS! Have fun, Boo. You have more than earned it.
AND HERE IS THE ENERGIZER..HARVESTING WHEAT ON THE BACK FORTY!..:)
I’m back. Read the last front page, then wandered around the internet. Clicked on a Daily Mail story about Omarosa — wanted to get a good look her dress — GOT THE SHOCK OF MY LIFE! She’s engaged to my childhood friend! Mind you, we’ve only seen each other maybe ten times since high school — last time about twelve years ago; however, I’m just really in a state of shock. He’s been a preacher since we were in high school, went on to college & divinity school, and is pastor of a church in FL. I’ve visited his church a few times and have seen him when he returned to this area to visit family or to preach. He has always been a progressive, engaged in civil and human rights, working on progressive/democratic political campaigns to include Jesse Jackson, and PBO (although, I failed to get him on board for Shirley Chisholm…). How does someone progressive get engaged to a trumpster??? Can’t wait to talk to one of his cousins, maybe they can shed some light…
Get back to us, please with the next Omarosa chapter.
LOL! I’m normally not one to gossip or pry, however, all evening I’ve found myself wishing his Aunt were still alive…
Hey, PF! Are you up for a road trip on the 27th? Looking to drive up to JackieG’s Latina Fiesta in Lebanon.
Wow…i would love to go….but i will be on vacation…with my fam
Enjoy your trip! Where are you headed to?
a resort in Massanutten, Virginia….should be good..there will be 8 of us
That sounds lovely. Enjoy!
Ooh, nice. You’ll enjoy. Beautiful area.
I LOVE MY PRESIDENT..I HOPE HE HAS RESTED WELL..HE’LL NEED IT…TIS’ A CLUSTERMUCK…I PERSONALLY WOULD STAY IN THE VINEYARD AND SQUEEZE EVERY LAST BIT OF JUICE OUT OF THOSE GRAPES!…TELL THEM THE WH HAS RELOCATED FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS!
Seriously the cutest couple EVAH
EVAH INDEED…SO STAY IN THE VINEYARD AND TELL JOE TO SUB TILL JANUARY…….:)
LeBron James Upsets White Fans After Praising Black Olympic Athletes
Many people said that James should be praising all athletes, not just the black ones.
Posted: August 17, 2016
Earlier this week, Cameron Newton made headlines when he made comments that the criticism he’s received as a quarterback haven’t been about race. He also went on to say that we’re beyond racism in the United States, much to the ire of many of his black fans.
But once again, his theory has been disputed—this time, courtesy of LeBron James’ recent praise of Olympic athletes Simone Biles and Simone Manuel.
James posted a congratulatory post to his Instagram and Facebook accounts that got some white people riled up:
Why did the FBI give this info to congress pf? I do not understand it at all?
i think the House requested the info
So we had a power out, crashed the computer, crashed my internet & crashed WP. And I was about to ask
Not understanding US laws too well, surely this is like divulging information from a Grand Jury for which an AG (PA?) has just been found guilty? The director of the FBI seems way too interested in releasing information in an attempt to turn people against HRC.
IT TOOK YOU THIS LONG TO GET THAT? NO ACCIDENTS HERE……………NO ACCIDENTS WHEN INTEL DISTORTS ISIS REPORTS EITHER!
OH THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY……………..
what is podesta trying to convey here? dems suck at messaging.
Thanks for asking, amk. Bet I’ve read that 6 times and still don’t understand it.
some kinda dc insidery lingo. who the f…k knows?
I read it as GOP house members releasing information they got in confidence from the fbi. Alternatively, it could be “people are saying”
you gotta stop watching those damned cable news shows.
Only one I can watch from here is msnbc – First week for 4 years that they’ve started to tell the truth about US politics. They try so hard to think up some both sides do it – emails is about it – and she’s boring. #imwithher
Sometimes I wonder about Mark Knoller, not only does he feel like he has to tell us how many times the President have played golf, he has to tell us how many times the First Family have eaten out on this vacation. How many times they have been to the beach and on and on. Let them enjoy their vacation.
I WON’T FEEL SECURE ABOUT PBO UNTIL HE AND HIS FAMILY ARE PERMANENTLY OUT OF THE WH…………………..THIS GOES FOR DR. JILL AND VP JOE TOO………………….IT’S UGLY OUT THERE…SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY WHO CANNOT BE TRUSTED……………………………PERIOD!
Not that I wouldn’t feel this way in any event, but most of my grandchildren and my two great grandsons live in Florida, and I totally detest Rick Scott with the heat of a million suns. This is just one more check mark in that “feelings are valid” column.
from I Love The Netherlands fb
Dutch pragmatism at its best! Meet Humanitas, the Dutch old-folks home in Deventer where students can live for free if they agree to spend at least 30 hours a month socialising with the older residents.
Hope all of you are enjoying a lovely Wed evening (Thursday morning) …. {{{{{{Chips}}}}}} …..
#ALL50
YES WE MUST
LOL.
Just listened to Hillary’s campaign manager on Rachel – wow – positive, friendly, smiling, on message – no wonder the GOP is losing.
The menu is kinda sparse, where’s the lamb and the meat dishes? I give Jimmy three-stars.
Any news about the intelligence briefings? I’d like to imagine a meeting in which they say to the Donald “We’ll keep this intelligence briefing brief. We’ve assessed your level of intelligence, and discovered zero traces of any intelligence whatsoever. That is all. Buh-bye!” I can dream anyway.
I’m with you on that dream. How could the briefers even have kept a straight face?
GE keltuc.
Except for Breitbart/DJT merger, pretty slow day for my Twitter feed.
Didn’t see many tweets on the briefing, though there’s this:
Thanks, arapaho! I finally forced myself to Google for any news on it. It just brought up his usual nonsensical lunatic statements about not trusting US intelligence and having no plans to use their services. Well, fine then, why bother showing up for the briefing? Why run for the US presidency for that matter? And when he’s been so vocal about such things, the intelligence agents should have the option to refuse to give him any briefing. Ugh. What a waste of their time.
It’s such an embarrassment for every *sane* citizen of US that DJT is a candidate for POTUS.
Ivanka is circled in red in the Daily Mail UK article:
There are some funny replies to that tweet
That “She’s with me” is hysterical!
us of a taxes olympic medal winners? nutz.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37099066
Yet again, women save the day for us. Our furst olympic medal.
houston airport is named after george fucking bush?
Yeah, Bush the elder. Gag. Of course, you know of the Reagan Airport in the D.C. area … every time I’ve been there, I felt a cold shudder. Especially since he hated federal air traffic controllers.
Ironic or hypocritical ? Or both?
All of the above. 🙂
nah, all of ’em, katie.
Ha!
As an aside (not that anybody cares about this but me), when G.H.W.B. was president, I never heard a word he said while he was on the teevee. Muted every word or switched the channel. Even though he said, “Read my lips,” I didn’t even do that.
heck, I don’t even remember a ghwb presidency.
I’m an old chick.
I’m an old chic but I don’t remember it either – was like the US went from Reagan to Clinton.
Good one!
not bad for a rw’er.
Thought the same thing! Could be a first for him.
He’s been a #neverTrump since forever – although I don’t think he’s voting for Hillary.
Nothing like having your 15-year-old high-school-sophomore grandson call you to tell you what he bought with the school clothes cash you gave him, and go on and on for 10 exciting, long (zzzzzzzzzzzz) minutes to also describe the specialized “skateboarder” socks he got to go with, mentioning their intricate patterns and varying colors as though he were describing the colors of nature. (After that, he mentioned he’d send me pics, and I didn’t want to tell him I could have waited.) Something about his passion for clothes made it even funnier to hear him ramble on, because it reminded me of taking my son shopping for school clothes when he was that age. Gee, could it be the sophomore GIRLS they want to impress? Girls who apparently like colorful shirts and socks? 🙂
Love this description of your grandson’s excitement over his new school clothes. Sweet memories ❤
I treasure all of it! After my great grandson’s first and second days of Kindergarten, though, I told my son today I was going to put it out of my mind and “pace myself.” Was getting so sentimental about it, I could have burst! #CalmDownGranny
It’s the overflow of joy, running down your face 🙂
Girls. It’s always girls.
In his case, yes!
SWEEEET!!!! I bet he’s a real cutie!!
My dear nephew sent me photos of the first day of school for his girls. One of them started kindergarten and the other 2nd grade. They both had the cutest dresses on and backpacks nearly bigger than them. I checked in later in the day and the little one loves kindergarten. YAYAYAYYYYY!!
Sweet!!! If I can figure out where to grab a video my granddaughter sent me of a woman’s hysterics after she had dropped off her kindergarten boy at school on the first day, I shall! The kids are fine – it’s usually the parents who wanna cry all day! ❤
Via BJ – If Hillary Clinton or PBO did this – the political media machine would explode
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-bernie-sanders-avoided-disclosing-his-personal-finances-n633081
How Bernie Sanders Avoided Disclosing His Personal Finances
As a Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders vociferously argued for political transparency, especially when money was concerned. But when federal law required Sanders to reveal, by May 15, current details of his personal finances, his campaign lawyer asked the Federal Election Commission for a 45-day extension. Request granted.
On June 30, Sanders’ campaign requested a second 45-day extension, saying the senator had “good cause” to delay because of his “current campaign schedule and officeholder duties.” Again, regulators said yes.
Now that Sanders’ second extension has expired, spokesman Michael Briggs confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity that the senator won’t file a presidential campaign personal financial disclosure after all.
“We were told that since the senator no longer is a candidate there was no requirement to file,” Briggs said.
FEC spokesman Christian Hilland verified that Sanders has not filed a personal financial disclosure. He likewise confirmed that Sanders, who technically ceased to be a presidential candidate when Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic nomination on July 26, is no longer required to file one.
————————————————————————————
Why are the rules for old white guys different to those for everyone else?
Good morning TOD 🙂
This may be wishful thinking on the part of Iran, but ….
Important ….
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2016/08/18/early-bird-chat-823/
Wishing all of you have a peaceful Thursday …. {{{{{{Chips}}}}}} ……