09
Sep
16

Early Bird Chat: First Lady Michelle Obama Honors Student Poets

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First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities poetry reading to honor student poets at the White House

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Rapper and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Hip Hop Culture, Q-Tip recite a poem

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126 Responses to “Early Bird Chat: First Lady Michelle Obama Honors Student Poets”


  1. September 9, 2016 at 10:07 am

    Good Friday, Nerdy…TOD Family!!!

  2. 2 Nerdy Wonka
    September 9, 2016 at 10:09 am

  3. 4 SUEDUVALLSMITH
    September 9, 2016 at 10:14 am

    FLOTUS LOOKS MORE AND MORE JOYFUL AS THEY GET READY TO EXIT THE SEWER PLANT..I CERTAINLY CAN’T BLAME THEM.

    • September 9, 2016 at 10:43 am

      SUEDUVALLSMITH, I agree.

    • September 9, 2016 at 11:46 am

      hahahahahahahahahaha Truth indeed; and SUEDUVALLSMITH I love how you said it. POTUS spoke with huge grins about returning to Laos and Asia after they are in their new chapter and how FLOTUS looks forward to travel to being on international stage more with her work, and about her bringing #LetGirlsLearn to Laos and Nepal. They work deep and wide and wisely, even though stuck too often in the sewer plant through the fault of bad people dedicated to doing bad things. They see the big icebergs and rocks and just paddle around them or swim past them underwater…..I can never give up because they never give up.

    • 9 idon
      September 9, 2016 at 12:35 pm

      FLOTUS is drop dead gorgeous. LAWD!

    • 10 SUEDUVALLSMITH
      September 9, 2016 at 4:30 pm

      THEIR DEPARTURE IS GOING TO BREAK MY HEART!

  4. September 9, 2016 at 10:15 am

    Good morning, TOD. Love this beautiful lady! NW–what a way to start the day. You’re such a blessing. We love you. We love Chipcs and miss her something fierce.

  5. 13 whenpamelawandered
    September 9, 2016 at 10:15 am

    💞🕉❤🕉💞

  6. 14 SUEDUVALLSMITH
    September 9, 2016 at 10:15 am

    THANKFUL PBO AND ENTOURAGE ARE HOME SAFE..LET THE RACE BEGIN. I HAVE A BUSY WEEKEND WITH MY CHURCH..ADIOS AMIGOS!

  7. 15 hopefruit2
    September 9, 2016 at 10:18 am

    G’morning Nerdy & TOD! Congrats swbluega on #1, and Happy Friday everyone. Love these pics of our stunning FLOTUS – thanks Nerdy! 🙂

  8. September 9, 2016 at 10:26 am

    Good morning Ms. Chips, Danny and TOD family, I hope all is well with everyone this lovely Friday morning. TGIF>> Congrats swbluega, on being first this morning.

    Nerdy, thanks so much for helping Ms. Chips and the sacrifices you are making for us TOD’ers. 💫🙏👌👊❤

    To all, I hope that your affable, gracious, and suave persona is exhibited today. ❤ ❤ ❤

    Thank God that President Obama is still the President of The United States of America. ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆

  9. 22 desertflower
    September 9, 2016 at 10:28 am

    There really just aren’t enough positive adjectives for our incredible First Lady. She is just stunning.

  10. 23 globalcitizenlinda
    September 9, 2016 at 10:32 am

    Larry King still has a TV show ……

  11. September 9, 2016 at 10:34 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 🙂

  12. 25 Betsy
    September 9, 2016 at 10:35 am

    Good Morning all. I hope each and every one of you has a FANTASTIC day. Happy Friday 🙂

  13. 26 desertflower
    September 9, 2016 at 10:36 am

    http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/trump-campaign-tricked-workers-and-store-owners-into-appearing-in-ad-and-now-theyre-furious/

    makers of a Donald Trump campaign ad are being accused of using people’s likenesses under false pretenses, WCAU-TV reported.

    “That’s what Trump do,” said Calvin Anderson, a Philadelphia man seen in Trump’s “Two Americas” ad. “I mean, that’s what he do. It’s all part of the slandering part but I don’t know why he chose me.”

    Anderson, a construction worker who is actually planing to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November, said he was approached by a photographer outside his work site in July.

    “We thought it had something to do with the building,” he recalled. “Before you know it he said, ‘Sign these waivers.’ I’m like, ‘Waivers for what?’ And it had nothing on there about Trump.”

    Anderson’s union, the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, sent a letter to its members alerting them about Anderson’s unwitting involvement in the ad, and calling on Trump’s campaign to stop airing it.

    • 27 0388jojothecat
      September 9, 2016 at 11:33 am

      Who the hell would sign something without knowing what it is for?

      • 28 GGail
        September 9, 2016 at 12:44 pm

        That’s why I’m Laughing at his dumbazz. LOL!!!
        Why would you allow someone to photograph you and then have you sign a waiver – and you don’t know what the hell it’s for

  14. September 9, 2016 at 10:39 am

    Trump’s Border Wall Is…. Unfair to Ohio!
    by Steven Waldman
    September 9, 2016 6:00 AM

    When questioning Donald Trump proposed border wall, critics tend toward metaphors: we should be “building bridges, not walls.”

    I’d like to suggest that if they want to make headway with voters, they look below the poetry of that phrase and focus instead on the prose. That is, we should be building actual bridges – structures with suspension cables and pavement – rather than walls.

    Trump’s wall would be a massive undertaking. But it would not be, as many critics imagine, unaffordable or un-doable. Estimates put the cost around $25 billion. That’s not a huge amount relative to the federal government’s $4 trillion budget, though a structural engineer writing in the National Memo estimates that it would require three times more concrete than the Hoover dam.

    What people who oppose the wall really find objectionable is its symbolism – it would be a dramatic statement that the nation wants to focus its precious resources on keeping out Mexicans. That’s both offensive and ineffective since 40% of illegal immigrants are people who came in legally and overstayed their visa. That’s true enough. But there are more prosaic arguments against Trump’s idea, which critics seldom make.

    The first is that compared to other public works projects, a wall is insanely wasteful and unproductive. Policy wonks (and wise politicians) support infrastructure spending not just because it provides short-term jobs, but because it often can help with long term economic growth. A light-rail system that makes commuting easier will lift the value of the property for blocks or miles around each station. Wider tunnels along Amtrak’s eastern corridor would allow actual high-speed rail transit from Boston to DC and boost jobs and wealth in every metro area along its route. By contrast, Trump’s wall is literally designed to cut off travel and commerce.

    The second practical argument against the wall is that it is politically unfair. It would be the single biggest public works project in decades, yet almost all of the jobs created would be in four states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. What about the other 46 states, whose roads and bridges are falling into disrepair? Yes, among the states being screwed are — to pick an entirely random collection — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Colorado.

    • September 9, 2016 at 11:06 am

      Rikyrah, OT, however, just heard from the Swarthmore Dinner Discussion Group — there’s space available so I’m in! Had you not posted the article yesterday, it would have continued to slip my mind. THANKS!

  15. 32 desertflower
    September 9, 2016 at 10:45 am

    • 33 Don
      September 9, 2016 at 11:05 am

      25k for Pam Bondi, 35k for Abbott, I’d be embarrassed to shake down some billionaire for such a small amount. Go big or go home, you can barely get a good remodeled kitchen for 35k, I’ll talking sub-zeroes and a Viking range.

      • September 9, 2016 at 11:53 am

        oh my goodness, too funny and too true! Grifters gon’ grift, but these ones need a grift-coach. Despicable pathetic dishonest people, doing bad things badly. Don you nailed it again.

      • 35 nospin
        September 9, 2016 at 6:09 pm

        “you can barely get a good remodeled kitchen for 35k”

        lolol tell it Don. sold themselves for what amounts to be a nickel

  16. September 9, 2016 at 11:00 am

    Yes…it is their job.

    Period.

    ……………………….

    Is It the Media’s Job to Challenge Lies?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    September 8, 2016 4:23 PM

    This week Howard Kurtz interviewed Chris Wallace about being chosen as a presidential debate moderator. At one point Kurtz asked him how he’d handle it if/when a candidate made unfounded accusations or said something that wasn’t true. Here is how Wallace responded:

    “That’s not my job,” Wallace, who hosts Fox News Sunday, said. “I do not believe that it’s my job to be a truth squad. It’s up to the other person to catch them on that.”

    I was reminded of that time when Chuck Todd told us what wasn’t his job.

    MSNBC host Chuck Todd said Wednesday that when it comes to misinformation about the new federal health care law, don’t expect members of the media to correct the record.

    During a segment on “Morning Joe,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans “have successfully messaged against it” but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that’s President Barack Obama’s job.

    A lot of people found both of those statements to be surprising – if not appalling. The idea that it is not the job of journalists to point out lies and/or misinformation seems to go against the very basics of what we should expect from a free press.

  17. 40 amk for obama
    September 9, 2016 at 11:10 am

  18. September 9, 2016 at 11:27 am

    🙂

  19. September 9, 2016 at 11:28 am

    bbl ….

  20. 43 Don
    September 9, 2016 at 11:48 am

    I don’t say this flippantly but African Americans are the least bit surprised that journalist don’t correct lies. Any conscious African American will tell you that the media and journalist have to long history of not being truthful or not calling out lies. I think its comical that everyone seems to be up in arms about journalist turning a blind to Trump, welcome to the African American experience. There is a long history of journalistic malpractice when it comes to the African American.

    • September 9, 2016 at 12:30 pm

      This is so true….so very true…. most of the crime stories reported are in black neighborhoods…as if there is no crime committed anywhere else…

      last year…there were two major reports…one was the Amtrak crash the other was about a major bridge in the Philadelphia area that was found to have cracks in it…

      with the bridge the media reported for 4 days straight about the bridge and all the problems that closing it cause….The Pres. came to Philadelphia to talk about infrastructure using the bridge as an example…crickets from the media re: his visit…

      re the Amtrak Crash…it was reported that there was a safety device that could have been installed in the train that would have prevented the crash…it was not installed because Amtrak’s budget has been slashed….all the Republican Congressmen from PA voted to slash Amtrak’s budget…crickets from the media….

      indeed…the media has been slanted and biased since time memorial….

  21. September 9, 2016 at 11:53 am

  22. 60 amk for obama
    September 9, 2016 at 12:18 pm

  23. September 9, 2016 at 12:27 pm

  24. September 9, 2016 at 12:28 pm

  25. September 9, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Do anyone have their copy of October Essence Magazine with POTUS and FLOTUS on the cover?

  26. 65 vcprezofan2
    September 9, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    /a shy and quiet/ Hi.

    • 66 GGail
      September 9, 2016 at 1:24 pm

      Who is this really???
      The VC that I know is neither shy nor quiet
      LOL!!!!

      • 67 vcprezofan2
        September 9, 2016 at 1:33 pm

        Morning, GxG! What can I say? You probably were just not observant enough when we were in the same milieu.
        .
        .
        😀 😀

        • 68 GGail
          September 9, 2016 at 2:28 pm

          Morning vc
          Or you *think* you have people fooled. 😀 😀

          I am so tired from trying to play catch up, that I’m canceling all of my Saturday & Sunday plans so I can rest!

          • 69 vcprezofan2
            September 9, 2016 at 2:41 pm

            Vacation *after* the vacation – the more realistic approach! 🙂 🙂

            I’m actually going to be out all day this Saturday for the first weekend in for-evah – which means I’ll need to rest on Sunday! 😀 A friend told me of this bus tour to visit the Canadian sites of the Underground Railroad, so since I’ve never been (and since I’ve denied her last 2 or 3 invitations to socialize) I decided to bestir myself. Of course, they are meeting at 7:00am which means I’ll have to leave home a little after 6:00am, ….. which means I’ll have to wake up even earlier. Naturally round about now the very thought of the effort to get there has had me wondering if I really *want* to go. Grrrrr, I hate making decisions like these!

            • 70 GGail
              September 9, 2016 at 3:11 pm

              Oh do please go! I bet you will discover and learn some interesting things and you know you love to learn. Then you can share your adventure with us here at TOD.

              • 71 vcprezofan2
                September 9, 2016 at 3:31 pm

                Thanks, I will at least make the effort, although I’ll miss the freedom of driving myself and therefore ‘taking off’ when I feel like it. It looks like it’ll be a whirlwind tour; I’ll certainly share on my return. One thing I’ll be looking for is if that Underground Railroad novel PBO tweeted (he wanted to read?) about is on sale at any one of the locations.

                • 72 GGail
                  September 9, 2016 at 3:42 pm

                  Excellent!
                  Have fun sweetie
                  And if you see any of my relatives – still, wandering lost, please show them the way. Okay?

                  • 73 vcprezofan2
                    September 9, 2016 at 7:57 pm

                    I’m back! After having a sudden, insistent craving for sweet potato pudding, I decided to go make one. smh – Needless to say I’m now feeling stuffed because I ate too much of it.

                    😀 😀 Which way – back home now that racism is over, or the way forward?

  27. 74 vcprezofan2
    September 9, 2016 at 12:37 pm

    [For TOD’s (nosy) history buffs] Go for it, Amk, edges, or whatever, of canyons are just not on my street!

  28. 79 sjterrid
    September 9, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    Beautiful, but you will never see me anywhere close to that edge.

  29. 84 yardarm756
    September 9, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    Good morning all.

    • 88 0388jojothecat
      September 9, 2016 at 1:04 pm

      I wonder if Shame Insanity at Faux Noise is OK with The Donald using a “teleprompter” since they mocked PBO about using one……

  30. September 9, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    Serious discontinuity ….

    back to work ….

    #ALL50

  31. 91 JER
    September 9, 2016 at 12:54 pm


    NOW: Bill Clinton Campaigns for Hillary in Pittsburg – http://abcnews.go.com/live?stream=6

  32. 92 JER
    September 9, 2016 at 12:57 pm


    NOW: Sen. Tim Kaine Visits Historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. – http://abcnews.go.com/live?stream=1

  33. 93 donna dem 4 obama
    September 9, 2016 at 1:07 pm

    Good Afternoon TOD

    I watched a really informative documentary on the events that took place on 9/11 last weekend on the History Channel called 15 Septembers Later. It’s never before scenes and info that was recently released. You have to get passed Bush, his cronies as well as Giuliani but some of the personal and never before told stories are amazing. It’s worth the watch.

    http://www.history.com/specials/15-septembers-later/full-special

  34. 95 amk for obama
    September 9, 2016 at 1:12 pm

    found out today there is a ‘indians for trump’ group. fucking morons.

  35. 96 globalcitizenlinda
    September 9, 2016 at 1:13 pm

    is today debate-preparation day? …. seems a little quiet on the campaign trail

  36. September 9, 2016 at 1:19 pm

  37. 99 Ladyhawke
    September 9, 2016 at 1:20 pm

  38. 102 Nena20409
    September 9, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    Hello TODable TODville Community.
    TGIF.
    Awesome Post, NW. Thanks a Billion.
    Congrats to all the Gold ⭐ winners since last Evening

  39. 103 Nena20409
    September 9, 2016 at 1:52 pm

  40. 105 Nena20409
    September 9, 2016 at 1:57 pm

  41. 106 Nena20409
    September 9, 2016 at 2:22 pm

    ttps://twitter.com/TheView/status/774310175775739904

  42. 111 Ladyhawke
    September 9, 2016 at 2:48 pm

  43. 112 JER
    September 9, 2016 at 2:50 pm


    Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns for Hillary Clinton and Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGiny in Philadelphia.
    http://www.msnbc.com/live-online/watch/live-warren-campaigns-for-clinton-761424451841

  44. 113 Ladyhawke
    September 9, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    • 114 0388jojothecat
      September 9, 2016 at 4:07 pm

      I wonder why the guy who resigned pushed for the DT meeting? It sounds like he was an important ally to the US and homeland security stemming the flow of immigrants, guns, drugs and criminals.

  45. September 9, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    YES WE CAN

  46. September 9, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    Republicans seem to invite foreign interference in US Presidential elections. Wasn’t Netanyahu butting in during the 2012 elections?

    Here are some headlines from September 2012:

    “Senator slams Netanyahu for interfering in US election”

    http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Senator-slams-Netanyahu-for-interfering-in-US-election
    ——–

    “Binyamin Netanyahu gambles on Mitt Romney victory”

    Israeli prime minister denies interfering in the US election, but his relationship with Barack Obama grows more antagonistic

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/20/binyamin-netanyahu-gambles-on-mitt-romney
    ——–

    “What Netanyahu’s meddling in US election means for Obama, Romney, and diplomacy”

    http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0927/What-Netanyahu-s-meddling-in-US-election-means-for-Obama-Romney-and-diplomacy
    ——–

    “Netanyahu Is Trying to Influence an American Election — 5 Reasons It’s Not Going to Work”

    http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/netanyahu-trying-influence-american-election-5-reasons-its-not-going-work

  47. September 9, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    ok – yes, off topic, but there are serious footy fans here…

    Yes, this happened yesterday, and I am remiss for not posting sooner, but I was all aflutter over it….

  48. 122 JER
    September 9, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    SOON: Sec’y Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Hold Joint News Conference – http://abcnews.go.com/live?stream=4

  49. 123 donna dem 4 obama
    September 9, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Jon Favreau and John Legend are ripping Hugh Hewitt a new one on twitter. It’s a thing of beauty. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  50. 124 JER
    September 9, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    SOON: Hillary Clinton Delivers Remarks Following Briefing – http://abcnews.go.com/live?stream=5

  51. 126 Allison
    September 9, 2016 at 4:34 pm


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