So Bill Murray walks into the Oval Office... #GetCovered snpy.tv/2he7xf2
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 12, 201612
Dec
16
114 Responses to “Oval Office Tee Time”
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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
- How the Radical Right's Embrace of the Great Replacement Theory Is Tied to Overturning Roe v. Wade
- 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"
Steve Benen
- Biden says the U.S. will defend Taiwan if China invades
- 'No one will take my husband away': Ukraine's first lady on how war impacts her family
- Baby formula shipment arrives, more coming this week
- Brand Up, Brand Down: Brand crazy, 'Top Gun' and the Big Mac
- Putin pushing Europe in direction of renewable, clean energy, says European Commission president
The Obama Diary 
Awesome Nerdy.
Congrats and good morning to all!
Thanks Dee.
It’s Monday morning, where is everyone? Hellloooo??????
MORNING! Cute PSA
GM TODville, and especially TNmtnGirl (for reasoned response to her husband):
Last night I sent a 13-tweet thread (#tweetstorm) about a short article that provides the best understanding of what motivates the GOP, and why they are unprincipled racists and liars.
Hope you bookmark the article, it explains so much.
Article published on Nov 17:
KEY TAKEAWAY (response to those who still consider themselves Republicans):
more…
If you encounter a reasonable (aka sane Republican, which appear to be a dwindling group), you can tell them this: that today’s Republicans are no longer Republicans — the Republican party was OVERTAKEN BY A COUP in the 1980s and 90s, which today’s MSM (most of whom spent their formative years during the “Reagan era) either doesn’t realize or refuse to admit:
more…
The battle to save even a scrap of our domestic policy and who we are as Americans begins now. Americans MUST NOT ease their opposition to DJT after Jan 20, 2017 because the “honeymoon” period immediately following inauguration (or in next month’s case “DJT infomercial 3-ring circus spectacle) is how GOP plan to:
1) End government regulation at the federal level (GOP-run states are already doing that locally).
2) Ensure that elites (and themselves) pay little or no taxes — no regulations, NOTHING TO FUND with taxpayer dollars EXCEPT to build up the military (wars/military-industrial-complex) and line their own pockets.
You may scoff at GOP’s honeymoon period, but remember that many people (especially in sparsely populated areas of this country) are easily hoodwinked, and their personal anger/resentment propels their political involvement:
Finally, of greatest concern for Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson (search for her name on Twitter, and you will see she hasn’t remained silent — the Guardian and other UK news outlets have published/aired her views) is:
Final thought for 2018 and beyond:
Where does Michelle keeps your money? That was funny.
Good morning Ms. Chips, Danny and TOD family, I hope all is well with everyone this lovely Monday morning. Congrats Roberta, 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 you’re able to summons absolute knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to address all your concerns and interests today. ❤ ❤ ❤
Notwithstanding the nightmare of BuffoonTrump in the Whitehouse, I am more than ever, Thankful to God that President Obama is still the President of The United States of America. ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆 ⭐🏆
I share VC and others’ concern about our JackieG — can understand completely if she is decompressing, and festively preparing for this month’s hectic schedule of arranging for holiday get-togethers and fun — hope she’s doing well, and knows that she’s sorely missed here. JackieG put so much time, effort and love to elect Dems statewide in PA and for President, only to be betrayed by her fellow Keystoners. 😦
For other Pennsylvanians, (PrettyFoot58, Alycee, et al) — what is local buzz about this possibility?
HI Arapoho415, I did send a DM on Face Book to Jackie and have not heard back. the last posting on her TL was Nov 23. I hope she is doing well also. Do miss her greatly. ?BBL. Have a wonderful (cold) day here in MN.
I sure hope someone hears from her soon. She is of concern to all of us.
Good morning TODville. Thank you NW for such wonderful positive posts for us.
arapaho, Thanks so very much for thinking of me. I keep a composition book by my computer and have tons of links written down. I put the date on most pages so I have a point of reference when I need to find a link–for my husband or anyone else.
Thanks so very much. Good day to all.
hello Roberta….i spoke with Jackie via email a few weeks ago…she was ok…exhausted…feeling down…in a funk re: election… she will be back…when she can
This is not “all” electors, but a good point, nevertheless.
Apparently, Trump is now calling out defense contractor Lockheed. Not quite sure that’s what Republicans and their defense contractor lobbyists had in mind.
Hi all. Should we vote again? See video. http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/12/10/robert-baer-new-election-russia-hacking-nr.cnn.
Good morning, NW and TODville. I hope every is well.
Some very interesting news coming this morning: Some Electoral College voters have come forward and want to be briefed on the CIA information about the election.
Also, something for us to look forward to:
Hi meta. It’s good to see you here and thanks for bringing “good” news with ya ❤
Thanks, GGail. Hope all is well.
Thanks, Meta.
I love this!!
Moving Backwards
by D.R. Tucker
December 10, 2016 3:00 PM
POLITICAL ANIMAL BLOG
Did anyone seriously think Donald Trump would change his mind on climate change?
Apparently, former Vice President Al Gore’s highly publicized efforts to convince the Addams, er, Trump family to give efforts to reduce CO2 their due were for naught, as the apparent President-elect went ahead with plans to hand the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior over to climate-change deniers Scott Pruitt and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. (Trump is also reportedly leaning towards nominating ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his Secretary of State; Tillerson’s company, of course, is viciously opposing any effort to hold the fossil-fuel behemoth accountable for its decades of deception on climate change.) Why did Gore think that the addled minds of the Trump family could be changed?
Granted, Gore wasn’t the only climate hawk to fall for the malarkey that the Trump family would ever agree with Sen. Ed Markey. Last month, Fisher Stevens, the director of arguably the greatest climate documentary ever made, Before the Flood, told entertainment blogger Jeffrey Wells:
Trump was just trying to look impartial and it made him feel important to pretend to listen and impress the opposition. I figured Trump included Romney just to have him grovel and decided he would not choose him as an ultimate embarrassment for Romney. His actual picks show him to be the scary man we thought he was.
States Can’t Stop Electors From Voting Their Conscience
by Carolyn Shapiro
December 9, 2016 12:23 PM
Earlier this week, in a New York Times op-ed, Texas presidential elector Chris Suprun announced that he would not be casting his vote for Donald Trump. Even though Texas voters chose Trump, Suprun—along with a small group of electors from around the country calling themselves “Hamilton Electors”—will vote for a yet-to-be-identified compromise Republican. As Suprun explained in his op-ed, and as I and others have detailed elsewhere, Donald Trump’s conduct since the election has demonstrated that he is dangerously unqualified and unfit to be president.
Can electors legally do this? While the nearly universal expectation is electors’ votes will reflect the popular vote in their states, the Constitution doesn’t require them to. As others have explained, Alexander Hamilton’s justification for the Electoral College in Federalist No. 68 shows that the Framers intended for electors to exercise their own judgment when necessary.
Many states, however, have laws that prohibit these so-called “faithless electors” (perhaps a better term would be “conscientious electors”) from bucking the state popular vote. This week, two electors filed suit in federal court arguing that Colorado’s version is unconstitutional. (Hillary Clinton won Colorado, but the plaintiffs hope that a victory in their lawsuit will effectively invalidate all such laws, allowing electors in Trump states to defect.) In addition to arguments based on the Framers’ intent, there is a strong argument based on constitutional structure and text, and on Supreme Court precedent, that these electors should prevail.
Waking Up to the Con Job
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 12, 2016 10:50 AM
With the news that Donald Trump will nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, it is clear that the president-elect continues to feed the swamp rather than drain it. But that’s not the message his supporters are hearing. Here is how Kellyanne Conway described the nominee on Fox News:
Conway isn’t lying. Tillerson is not a typical politician. But to get a sense of who he is, it’s helpful to read what Steve Coll has written about him. Coll literally wrote the book about ExxonMobil. It’s titled, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. Here’s how he recently summarized what he learned:
Who’s Looking Out for You?
by D.R. Tucker
December 11, 2016 3:00 PM
Are they going to whine four years from now, too?
Let’s say that in 2020–four years after Donald Trump has used the Constitution as a placemat, ignored incident after incident of police brutality, gutted every last element of President Obama’s carbon-cutting efforts, proclaimed that Vladimir Putin was virtuous and pure, and allowed corruption to contaminate the country–the Democratic presidential primary comes down to another contest pitting a perceived “establishment Democrat” against an undisputed progressive. Let’s say that, due to missteps, gaffes, lack of coverage from the mainstream media, or just plain old bad luck, the progressive hopeful fails to secure the Democratic nomination.
Will the same folks who went on and on about Hillary Clinton’s alleged flaws, her supposed cautiousness, her “uninspiring” nature, and her ties to the “Establishment” resurface to again assail the Democratic nominee as “not progressive enough”? Will they again exaggerate the nominee’s perceived policy flaws? Will they again suggest that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democratic nominee and the demagogic incumbent?
As I noted in February, back in the summer of 2013 I was horrified by the rhetoric of progressive radio host Sam Seder, who chased after then-Democratic US Senate aspirant Cory Booker with a rhetorical chainsaw. Seder was repulsed by the prospect of Booker defeating then-Rep. Rush Holt in an August primary to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg in an October special election. I also preferred Holt’s vision, especially his strong advocacy of a federal carbon tax to combat climate change, but it was fairly obvious that Holt was not going to win the primary–and I could not figure out why Seder kept on promoting the idea that Booker was only marginally better than Steve Lonegan, the Koch Brothers-backed Republican contender for Lautenberg’s former seat.
The same reasoning Seder used in that 2013 New Jersey Senate primary was on display during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary–and beyond. How many times did you have conversations with nominally progressive acquaintances who insisted that Clinton was a crypto-Republican, that her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a hoax, that she couldn’t wait to sell out to Big Fracking and Big Pharma and Big Ag and Big Big?
If a Democrat who has, by some odd metric, been deemed “not progressive enough” wins the presidential primary in 2020, we’ll likely hear this same rhetoric again. Nothing will have been learned.
The Democratic universe is filled with purity ponies like Sam Seder who can afford to lose an election or two if their candidate doesn’t win. And unless we start seeing these types of Democrats for what they really are, we will always lose with candidates like Bernie Sanders. And where the hell are candidates like Bernie Sanders now when we need as many Democratic voices as possible to save our country? These fuckers would want their base to starve to death just to prove a point, I don’t have time for some fucking pie in the sky bullshit, my people need to eat today.
TELL IT !
“How the Obamas changed the way we see … ”
And, ya know, we will always have that. No matter what happens to our country or its citizens, ourselves included, we will always have that.
Michelle Obama Visits the Children’s National Health System With Ryan Seacrest – http://abcnews.go.com/live?stream=6
Amazing FLOTUS!!
I know a lot of “big kids” who won’t be happy with this news, either!
Hello TOD.
I am always speechless to the tenacity of NW and TODbot, moving fearlessly #FORWARD. Thanks a Billion!
{{{{ ❤ Chips ❤ }}}}
09De16 WH Presser w/Eric Schultz
I wonder if trump will have press briefings
12Dec16
WH Presser with Josh “The Voice” Earnest is LIVE, starting shortly
I agree with Sen. Reid 100%
How are these billionaires going to fight a whole DT government that’s against saving the planet?
This is important. The electors are doing this PUBLICLY.
Yes!!!
Amen…….
Charles Blow has been on fire lately.
Coup d’etat is so easy to happen in US, my late Dad siad in 1973 or 1974 during the Nixon fiasco.
Pardon me. this is the correct Tweet.
GE Nena, hope you’re not still having blizzard conditions in MN.
From Meta’s Twitter timeline a couple of days ago:
Hello TODers!!
Nerdy, many, many thanks, as usual.
((((((((((((((Chips)))))))))))))))
Ouch! This burns.
This is wonderful:
Yes it is, meta!
What’s Up With Trump and Putin?
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 12, 2016 1:03 PM
The big story right now is the extent to which Russia and Vladimir Putin involved themselves in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win. The president-elect is doing his usual spin job on the news, with his most recent lie being that the topic didn’t come up during the campaign. For anyone tempted to believe him, they’ll have to answer for this:
But for those who have legitimate questions about what actually happened, there are a few important things to keep in mind. First of all, during the entire primary and general election campaigns, we heard the word “rigged” a lot. As far as we know, that is not what Russia did. While there were concerns about a possible attempt to hack voting systems, there is no evidence that happened. So when you hear things like this from Republicans, that is important to keep in mind.
That is an attempt to divert the conversation from the evidence suggesting that Russia tried to influence the election in favor of Mr. Trump. More precisely, that Russia was involved in hacking emails at both the DNC and RNC – but only leaked those from the former.
While we don’t have access to all of the evidence collected by the CIA, what we have witnessed goes beyond what has been leaked to the press about their reports to members of Congress. First of all, we know that candidacies like Trump’s are something Russia has backed all across Europe.
GA TODville.
For those of you on Facebook, a reminder that @VP will be interviewed by @NatGeoTravel in about 10 minutes, 3:25pm EST, 12:25pm PST (repost from yesterday).
My attempt to view this interview was unsuccessful. 😦
Although not a Facebook member, I could see NatGeoTravel’s Facebook page, but was unable to locate the interview.
Hopefully they will post a video for viewing later.
Don’t forget the American People ….
#CRUSHPutinTrumpCoup
#TrustBarack … and I’m sensing a lot of coordination …. remain hopeful as always … back to work … take care everyone …
Well, what I don’t understand is hearing people talk like he could still even BE president after this mess! He is put into that office FRAUDULENTLY. HE WON NOTHING. CLINTON won the popular and was the wish of the people. This game show host is not fit for office, nor are the people that the fraud is choosing to run things. You don’t reward behavior like this with installing him anywhere NEAR the Oval Office! He’s dirty and everyone around him is dirty! Not to be considered for anything! You know what would make Vlad shit his tighty whities? Hillary Clinton. Why else would he go through this trouble? Putin was terrified of a Clinton Presidency.
Well stated, DesertFlower.
later. back to work. I hope this all blows up in their faces…everyone that had a hand in undermining our democracy….and DT empire reduced to rubble. I mean it.
I’ll second that, df.
I’m just spotting this (verified) twitter account:
Electoral CollegeVerified account
@ElectoralCollge
The National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register administers the Electoral College process for the Archivist of the U.S., Congress, and the American People
TWEET:
Eric Garland:
Beautiful and urgent writing from @summerbrennan about the perversion of language as precursory to loss of democracy.
Uh huh
Uh huh
McConnell Says No to Infrastructure Spending as a Priority
by Nancy LeTourneau
December 12, 2016 3:38 PM
The one remaining item in Trump’s campaign promises that would actually have the potential to help working class Americans is his proposal to spend $1 trillion to upgrade our infrastructure. While it is still unclear what the spending plan would look like – and plenty of concerns that it would be more about lining the pockets of construction companies – it still had the possibility to boost job growth. There was also the prospect of creating what Greg Sargent called “a nightmare scenario for progressives.”
That’s one of the reasons why I’ve been looking out for any signs about what’s up for this proposal. I’ve already noted that infrastructure spending doesn’t show up on the priority lists of either Mike Pence or Paul Ryan. Given that Trump has basically turned over control of Congressional affairs to his vice-president, it is critical to notice not only the lack of mention from the Speaker, but its failure to make the list for Pence.
Over the weekend I actually listened to the speeches from both the president and vice-president elect in Iowa last week. Trump touted his infrastructure plan, but it didn’t get a mention from Pence. Otherwise, their lists of priorities pretty much overlapped. Interesting…isn’t it? Perhaps there is a disagreement going on in the inner circles of the Trump camp over this issue. We all know that Steve Bannon has been touting the idea of a huge infrastructure plan winning over working class voters. But perhaps that’s all part of the con job. Who knows?
Today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell became the first Republican to actually put the kibosh on the idea of infrastructure spending as a priority. While touting the fact that Congress will use the budget reconciliation process next month to repeal Obamacare and then again this spring to pass tax cuts, he weighed in with this:
Who President-Elect Ferret Head owes money to:
Mother Jones breaks it down in a nice chart
What Alexander Hamilton Would Want
by Martin Longman
December 12, 2016 2:18 PM
Our first president was from Virginia, and our second president was from Massachusetts. In fact, our first six presidents were from one of those two states. It’s an oversimplification, but the competition between Virginia and Massachusetts in the early part of our Republic was not unlike the competition we have today between Democrats and Republicans.
Now, I’d never want to compare Donald Trump to George Washington, but perhaps it would be less startling to imagine a situation in which John Adams had been elected in 1796 despite losing the popular vote, and that he had been openly friendly to King George III, asked him to intervene in the election, steal, read and disseminate Thomas Jefferson’s private mail correspondence, and then began appointing British loyalists as his top advisers and nominating them to positions like Secretary of State.
As it was, Adams was only elected because one elector each in Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania defected to his cause. But if it had been widely known prior to the Electoral College meeting in their respective states that Adams had been surreptitiously aided by the British Crown, the electors would have had to contemplate what Alexander Hamilton wrote about their job description in the Federalist No. 68. To begin with, Alexander explained why they had created the Electoral College:
The number one concern was to avoid allowing a foreign power “to rais[e] a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union.” We would have the people vote for electors who would be watchful for foreign interference. Those electors would be chosen for this purpose and this purpose alone. It would be hard to know who they would be beforehand, which would make it hard for a foreign power to bribe them.
Sorry to interrupt this thread for a petty comment, but today I haven’t been able to shake the uneasy thought about DJT and his disgusting sniffing during the three debates with HRC. In all of his interviews, rallies, etc., I have NEVER seen him do that horrid sniffing thing that he did to my total annoyance during those debates. We’ve never seen an actual medical examination of the man, so I can only assume that he had to be completely coked up to get through those debates. Is there any other theory?
Again, I know this is petty, but am I the only once who has noticed this?
Thanks for being here to allow me to get that off of my chest:)
No. The Jackass-elect does sniffs. But that is the least of my concerns. I am still trying to come to grip with what the hell happened on November 8.
Arapaho, I had to laugh at your post last night, which I saw today. I too have never owned an Apple product, and probably never will. I broke down and purchased a Motorola smart phone last year, which I love. And after going on vacation with my daughter last year with her tablet, I broke down and got a Samsung tablet to use in lieu of my laptop. I must admit I love it, particularly for audio books and live streaming to my tv. But in some ways, I am worse than you. After working at a desk for 25 years, I still prefer my pc for the internet, and it is at my desk that I use the internet most of the time. Some habits are hard to break! While I rarely use my phone for internet browsing, it does come in handy if I hit the paywall limit for NYT:-)
I didn’t see arapaho’s post last night about Apple. I have an iPhone and doing this comment on my iPad. However, I must have my PC as my ‘main’ computer. I’m technically challenged and have never leaned how to truly use my iPhone/iPad. My daughter shows me how to do things, then I forget. 😣😣. Age thing? Not committed enough? Done thing else? Who knows? Lol.
GE FFTX.
Glad to see that you and TNmtnGirl can relate to my using a laptop for everything. 🙂
The cliquish-ness of Apple users is off-putting to me… what’s stunning to me is that at the local public library, nearly every student on their laptops are using their personal Apple computers. My guess is that kids whose parents can’t afford an Apple might be subject to teasing (you know how peer pressure can be crushing when you’re young), which bothers me a lot.
I do like Jonathan Ive’s design instincts, and love how he has incorporated nature into his Christmas display this year (posted here at TOD earlier, on the Christmas tree arrives at the WH thread IIRC).
Love this man.
Me, too, Meta.
Good Evening TODVille!
A big shoutout after being away again for 4 long days.
Thank you Nerdy for this beautiful post. Love my POTUS. And like Bill Murray very much, too.
I saw that earlier. She was excellent!
She really is.
Okay – Full Moon approaching: Tuesday
13 December 2016 22.26 Gemini. 7:05pm EST. 4:05pm PST. Hope some of us get to see it, pretty sure we will not, here in the beautiful Emerald City! Love, Light and Many Blessings to you all! ❤️🌹🙏🏻🌹❤️
GE TODville.
DVR alert for tonight…
From Meta’s Twitter timeline:
Yay! Hit the DVR. Thanks.
I do not know about how other people … but this election outcome and the subsequent actions and garbage talk from the hate-monger have really been a test for my faith
Oh my gosh, gcl. YES! I on’t know if you saw my post from a few days ago (don’t remember when) about this being as difficult as when we lost our grandson. Of course, it is different, but in some ways, it is the same and in some ways even worse. One difference is that I knew that was ‘the end.’ He was gone. He was out of pain and suffering. This–it just gets worse every day and it won’t be over for years! One of the main themes, for lack of a better description, for our church is HOPE. Hear it on a consistent basis and I have always had HOPE, even during Walker’s death. I never blamed God. Never blamed anyone. Now I don’t have that hope……about anything. This–It is affecting the way to look at SO MANY people at church. Last night, our Life Group met for the first time since election. One of the women I had to unfollow on Facebook. She has posted so many things–Ex. “Put God back in the White House.” Two of those and one of them, Trump was holding the sign!!!! Posted something few days ago saying that President Obama “forbid using the word Christmas…..” I could hardly look at her the entire night. I just don’t have the same respect for those I know voted for Trump or those I strongly suspect did. Keep in mind that includes my husband. Respect and trust and judgment–definitely changed. I am having a VERY difficult time doing my morning devotions and prayer time. First time that has EVER happened to me. So, a big YES. My faith has and is being tested. I see no end in sight. 😦 😦 😦 Thanks for asking that. It’s good to share with those I know understand.
I “get” how you feel, tnmtgirl.
I just had some words with my Brother that lives next door. I have known he voted for Trump because of his FB posts, hate for the Clintons, history with his journalistic preferences (Drudge, Breitbart, etc.) and his belief in all conspiracy theories as well as shaking up everything and starting over.
I was able to talk him into voting for Obama. He did so twice, but previously it was Ron Paul all the way. I have known we cannot talk politics and still stay civil, but I am seething at his stubbornness and dumb decision to vote for Trump. He seems to feel the same way about my voting for Hillary. He actually voted for Bernie in the Primary. When the day after the election I was unable to continue our daily get together that day to watch a Netflix show I said I had not felt this way since JFK died. When I expressed my fears of being concerned all of Obama’s progress would be erased his reply was that won’t happen. Why not with all the branches of government being run by the same party?, I replied. He said the Democrats won’t let it. I was livid and asked him to leave.
I heard two other men say the exact same thing in the Chris Hayes and Bernie Sanders townhall in WI yesterday when they questioned Trump voters on why they voted for him. Their inability to fathom that our way of life and freedoms could be taken away is a major problem.
Yes…but if the Republican House KNEW about this (as they were briefed!) and chose to keep silent…then they should be tried for treason. I think its THAT serious!
Anyone watching Rachel? Now he’s gotten Turkey involved and holding us over the ??????? God help us! What is happening to our country?!
😰😣😫😰
Just dropping once again! Love you guys!
.
Another rendition by yet another divine voice:
.
New post.
https://theobamadiary.com/2016/12/12/chat-away-889/
Sorry, was supposed to post this one, hopefully it will post:
This is fun, go for it & join in!
Awesomeness!
.