If it were not for those 15 degrees outside my doors, I would run to get those balloons we so need right now. Instead, I wish I could buy a burial place for the Repeal Obamacare exercise.
Gret point from the article…(this is why Republicans lie to their constiuents)
Republicans have yet to unify around a single, concrete, scorable plan because it is conceptually impossible to design a health-care plan that meets conservative ideological goals and is also acceptable to the broader public.
GOP Senators are finding out tonight that their misguided effort to strip millions of Americans of medical insurance (now that they don’t face the prospect of a veto pen) isn’t as easy as obstructing and yelling NO (as they did 50 times previously).
The big unknown is what will Trump do? West Virginia his best state; Capito wants to protect 170K who have expanded Medicaid thanks to ACA.
I was as alarmed as Meta when I saw the Gizmodo report on the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy asked to leave on Jan 20, but saw this pushback from a Reuters reporter:
DOE/NNSA officials both say web story doing the rounds about Trump forcing 2 NNSA officials to leave on Jan. 20 is false. #nuclear#NNSA
Heavenly Father thank you on behalf of the sick and frightened that the RATS (republicans are thrashy shit) dont have the votes to make America sick again
Just saw a ’90s clip of the Clintons as they were marching in one of his Inaugural parades … and got a sweet flashback of Joe Biden as he walked the walk in ’09 … he kept running over to talk with spectators and stuff, having the time of his life! Joe’s gotta be Joe!
Good to hear, would expect nothing less for PBO’s final 😦 speech as an elected official.
MSM still hasn’t figured out that PBO is truly passing the torch to young leaders and activists — that’s his mission in life, to get people wear the mantle of citizen and accept the responsibility and power of that position.
The Senate *knows* how unethical DJT cabinet nominees are, so they’re trying to get them confirmed by scheduling overlapping hearings for the nominees.
Wednesday schedule:
9 am – Rex Tillerson (State) / Foreign Relations Committee
10am – Mike Pompeo (CIA) / Intelligence Committee
10am – Betsy DeVos (Education) / Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee
10:15am – Elaine Chao, wife of McConnell (Transportation) / Commerce Committee
2pm – John Kelly (DHS) / Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will consider DHS nominee Gen. John Kelly at 2 p.m.
2pm – Jeff Sessions* (Attorney General) / Judiciary Committee
* Sessions testifies tomorrow; Wednesday’s session will feature witnesses on his behalf
From the RCP article:
“Nineteen Republican senators sit on at least two of those five committees and will likely have to balance simultaneous hearings; three Republicans — Ron Johnson, Rand Paul and Todd Young — sit on three of the committees. Fifteen Democrats sit on two of the committees, though none sit on three or more.”
That’s rich. And a riot. Before reading the story, my first guess was that RWNJs in the Senate felt they could use her as their choice du jour to “postpone” (and make themselves look as though they care about all the “what’s the rush” questions) because she’s a woman nominated to be Sec. of Ed. – both disposable “life positions,” in their eyes.
Has anyone here watched Bernie’s town hall? I didn’t know about it nor would I have done anything different tonight. But I heard that The Great Nina Turner was at it again, implying that Dems lost because The Bern was not the Dem chosen nominee.
Thought I’d write this before the President’s Farewell Address tomorrow night, because I’ll be in no state to do much through my tears after that! And goodnight, TODville!
***
Orator-in-Chief
He wrote what he saw “in Lincoln’s eyes”
And to some of us reading it was no surprise
That we were certainly in for a treat
When Barack H. Obama rose to his feet
Remember when we heard him speak
At that Democratic National Convention
His remarks got rave reviews in ’04
Much more than honorable mention
And during his first presidential campaign
When we craved to hear him even more
Remember he told us that we … we …
Were the ones we’d been waiting for
When he cajoled we’re ” … a nation of immigrants …
… strangers once, too,” he stood tall
Prodding us to come together as one, for
“Embracing tribe dooms us all”
From his loftiest words heard in a consoling speech:
“Faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have doubt”
To his hysterically funny two words to the press:
“Obama, Out!”
Sometimes he delivered oration in a hymn
Often his words caught us all on fire
This man seems to have come out of history
In colonial days, he’d have been a town crier
We love this man, his mind, voice, and tone
We see he’s armed us better than we were before
And when we wonder if we’ll be able to go it alone
We whisper we are the ones we’ve been waiting for
And isn’t that the proof of the orator he’s been
And the fact we seldom see his kind
We’re not sure which of our heartstrings he pulled
But we know he also left his words in our minds
And this year we thank him
Genuinely, without measure
For being Orator-in-Chief
And our national treasure.
I want to make a few points and most will probably not agree with me, but like all things election, I always say only time will tell.
There are a few things I am pretty sure of, as sure as anybody can be without actual evidence.
The first is that: Russia is one of two main countries that tampered with the US 2016 elections, the second is Israel. Unfortunately the US govt is so used to covering up Israeli govt’s backstabbing acts against her, they have covered this up automatically. Israel knows it and continues to count on it.
The second is that President Barack H Obama, a man with such a big heart for people was the last chance the US had to embrace sanity. Instead majority rejected him and thus the result is what 2016 election became.
The third is that what people think is going to happen (from the new US admin to everybody else in the US and around the world) is not what is really going to happen, it is really going to be worse.
The fourth is that election results were tampered with electronically. Anybody who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth on purpose or genuinely do not know. These were tried in 2012 for Romney especially in OHIO that is why Karl Rove had a meltdown when he heard President Obama had won the state. Well it was perfected for 2016. All those US wide hacks prior to the 2016 elections were test runs.
The Fifth: I do not think calling US law makers is going to make much difference this time, I can say it has not seemed to have made that much difference when the law maker was republican. The democrats in govt generally tend to lack a backbone. They seem afraid of the republicans and many worship at their strategic feet. Unless you make them more afraid of you than the republicans and their clueless voters, you are not going to get anywhere. The United States of America just had one of the biggest election rigging done against its so called democracy, the biggest I have seen outside third world countries with no accountability or repercussions. If anyone thinks that just calling their law makers will make a difference you better think again.
The republicans just spat into the voters’ eyes and snatched up the prize and people did not rise up enough to challenge the results. The heart of what the US stands for just got gutted by a man who will be “king” and his foreign allies and all he gets are social media comments and a few protests? Now he knows he can do anything. That there is no pause in confirming him or any serious investigation tells him that he can pretty much do anything. He himself even alluded to it. To paraphrase him, He can kill someone openly on the street and still lose no voters(no accountability, no responsibility). He now knows that he can pretty much get away with anything.
The republicans are following in his footsteps and are starting to disregard the laws and processes that protected the institutions, govt and people. After all they know they do not need the voter to win an election all they have to do is “rig” the election. So the “third world” countries says to the US welcome to the club. By winning this way, it is irrelevant who is majority in the US, they will win everywhere they need to win even in the heart of minority districts because they have found a way to rig elections.
No human empire lasts for ever, they will try but one thing they all have in common, is that the seed of their destruction always came from within not without. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting and the resistance of lawmakers to do anything to address the issue, that indicated it was only a matter of time for this United States. The blood of those innocents and others are still wailing for the conscience of a once great nation.
The conscious of the nation has been blind and indifferent since its inception. A country built on genocide and slavery was never great. A country where power has always been concentrated with the wealthy has never been equal. A country where women have always worked to build it and families and to still be paid less, treated dismissively, and objectified has never been great. What we have is a young nation that is going through all of the stresses and strains of growth. What we have is almost an entire continent as a country which is huge and unweildy and messy. What we have is a nation that is still trying to figure out what is an American and what does it mean. Hope we struggle with so much, it is not the time to throw out the baby with the bath water. We have the seeds of all that we require to be a truly great country, but we all need to work in any way that we can to create a country for all. These divisions that we see today have been with us since colonial times. The seeds of the civil war were planted in that period and the civil war and its aftermath are still influencing our current national life. We have lived through much in our quest to perfect our union, but when all is said and done, most of the movement has been forward. Just because the future is challenging and different from what we wished for is not the time to give up ; just the opposite is required. I prefer to follow the president’s example. In case you did not know, I am an African-American woman of a retain age who lives n the South. I have lived a life that my enslaved ancestors and even my own mother could barely imagine, so I know that while we have a long way to go before our nation is truly great, I know that we all get there.
I hear you CEB, but even President Obama cannot control or do everything. He could not as president ( and having lurked on this site for 8 years I know you believe the same also) and he will not as a citizen, Though many unreasonably thought he should have been able to.
Yes you walk forward, but you prepare for really tough times.
The US was great in its own way and for a time they led the world. but a lot has changed over the years. The Bush Admin showed the weakness of the country and the Obama Admin through smart diplomacy and incredible strategic execution turned that weakness into strength.
The US reclaimed its place at the top again but welcomed partners. This I thought was very smart.
This incoming admin wants to double down on the Bush Admin’s bullying ways, “you are either with us or against us”. This is going to cause a lot of problems. All the trust that were given to the US by other nations will now be withdrawn. The reason being that the US cannot be trusted.
What I am hoping is that people will realize that the enemies of progress in the United States will not be swayed by tweets, marching or even calls, in fact if the calls become a nuisance they will relegate that number to the answering machine which will fill up very quickly or give the job to some poor intern in the basement somewhere. To reach these folks, the movement has to be creative, just like the Obama admin has been throughout their amazing 8 years in Office. These folks have always understood one thing and that is money. Resistance will be more effective with actions that they understand than those they do not or don’t care about.
Also it is about time “sane” Americans stop bailing out the “insane” ones (this includes people who refuse to vote), perhaps it is good for these folks to really experience the consequences of their actions. This may mean many who carefully cast their votes will suffer along with them but it is a necessary evil.
Just like when blacks demonstrated for Rosa Parks, many walked miles to work instead of taking the bus. They did it for the greater good. It was tough but necessary.
When you have a president who has no regard for the laws of the land, then the usual rules of engagement do not apply simply because he will not abide by it, so you better get creative or find you are losing the fight at the start of the battle.
I pray the Obama post presidency will be as beautifully strategic as it was during his 8 years as president. But that man needs to rest! Most people forget that he has been at this from 2007. He did not even get to rest after winning because the crisis hit and the fearless leader President Bush went into hiding! Then it was the pirates, one thing after another and he has come through with flying colours.
He and Michelle needs to just get away from the past 8 years and rest. Hopefully ordinary Americans will carry the Barton in the meantime.
Pardon any spelling or grammatical errors. Thanks. 🙂
Yep. One of the dumbest things dems did was allow him to run as a democrat. I really hope they have learned a lesson here. I’m still trying to understand the draw to this guy. Have never gotten it.
What Bernie means is that he connects with white people which is still the holy grail for everyone running for any office. Most do not think a win is a win unless a minority of whites vote for them. Votes from others is a nice aside, a way to pad the votes but not the main ingredient. So now everyone will be doubling down on how to appeal to them.
And so a final word from this stupid fucker, who, if by some miracle had been the dem nominee, but who had watched the election he won by millions of votes, taken away from him by a defunct Electoral College, would be standing there now, giving thedonalddimbulb ‘his due’? I say, yo bern, were you a gop plant after all, making sure there was no chance a woman would become President? Sure seems like you’ve exposed yourself this time. Faker. Must feel good to have sold your own soul.
You know what I think? I think we take Ms. Conway up on her challenge to “pay attention to what’s in DT’s heart.”..How about we start with the firing of Mr. Brotman. That was evil AND cruel! Done, Kelly….there IS no heart in there! FU!
Sen. Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearing for the post of U.S. attorney general will pit him against civil-rights advocates Rep. John Lewis (D-AL), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Sessions has Donald Trump’s backing for the Cabinet post, and the support of Republican colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee where Sessions will have his confirmation hearing. But that same committee previously rejected Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986, when his behavior was deemed too racist for the post. Sessions’s alleged bigotry is expected to be front and center when his confirmation hearing begins Tuesday.
wo men among five new names on a U.S. sanctions list against Russia are the suspects believed to have carried out the London polonium poisoning of Kremlin foe Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun are just two of the 44 Russians that President Obama has ordered censured before he leaves the White House in 10 days. Litvinenko died of radiation poisoning. A U.K. inquiry determined that Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, was most likely killed at the personal order of President Vladimir Putin. The people named in the U.S. sanctions are banned from traveling to the States and have had any assets within the country frozen.
Some of Jared Kushner's many conflicts of interest. Even if he manages to skirt anti-nepotism laws, these should disbar him: pic.twitter.com/Ak8XQ6csQV
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to rush through hearings on Trump’s nominees before they’ve completed background checks and ethics clearances. As Norm Eisen tweeted yesterday, this is simply another example of his hypocrisy.
In case that is difficult to read, the image is of a letter McConnell sent to Reid in 2009 enumerating the things that needed to be completed before hearings were scheduled on Obama’s nominees – including background checks and ethics clearances. McConnell writes:
In consultation with our Ranking Members, we affirm our commitment to conduct the appropriate review of these nominations, consistent with the long standing and best practices of committees, regardless of which political party is in the majority.
* After hearing from Democrats about the need to slow down the process, yesterday McConnell suggested that he would move forward with the rushed hearings and that Democrats need to “grow up.” That elicited some A+ trolling from Schumer on twitter today.
Enjoy a supremely intelligent, innovative, expertly delivered address tonight because what comes next are pathological lies and incoherence. pic.twitter.com/iI2Hm4uQXU
You may have heard that the Obamas held a star-studded farewell party at the White House last Friday night. What you might not have heard is that the President has also been holding a series of short meetings in the Oval Office with friends and supporters. The former Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, was one of the people who received such an invitation. He wrote about his experiences on Facebook.
Rybak starts off by talking about his despair at seeing the viewing stand being built for the Trump inauguration…remembering the pride he felt eight years ago in our new president, Barack Obama. But the despair dissipated as he was welcomed into the Oval Office.
I went through security into the White House because the President invited me in to come by for a few minutes before he left office. I turned the corner to the Oval Office to see him looking more energized than he has in months, and with that huge smile on this face that has lifted so many of us so many times…
He put his arm on my shoulder and looked at me intensely, saying, “We aren’t done yet.”
I wish I could have bottled the look in his eyes so all the people I know, and don’t, who feel dishearten now, who are so fearful of what comes next, and who feel a sense of loss, know he is absolutely not, under any circumstances, going to stop fighting for what we believe in.
“I’m going to take a little vacation,” he said, “get a little sun, but then we are right back at it. ”
He told me about the work he will be doing on youth and families, on getting more people engaged in voting, on protecting liberties. Then he said the words that meant the most to me: “The best is yet to come.”
Would follow him to the ends of the Earth and back again.
Jan 20, Jill and I will head home to Delaware the same way I have for 44 years: by train. Serving this country has been our greatest honor. pic.twitter.com/D0g2rEvE9R
petesouza — Daddy, don’t embarrass me. At least that’s what it feels like Sasha is saying to her father. The Obama family had come onstage at the conclusion of an In Performance at the White House on “The Motown Sound,” a concert celebrating Black History Month and the legacy of Motown Records in 2011.
Good day TOD. Looking forward to the President’s speech tonight, although i suspect I will be viewing it through tears.
I think the Jared Kushner appointment is fascinating on a couple of levels.
First, it is DT’s first test of whether he can get away with violating laws in addition to norms. The anti-nepotism statute is clear and applies. DT is flagrantly disregarding it.
Second, I have suspected for quite some time that DT’s family plays a protective role with him. I suspect he misses at least half of what takes place in many conversations due to his limited attention span and another quarter because he doesn’t understand what is being discussed. He then relies on Kushner and Ivanka to later advise him on what he missed and what he didn’t comprehend.
Third, Kushner has his own interests in addition to and apart from DT, thereby increasing all the potential conflicts a hundred fold. We have even less of a clue than we do of DT what those interests are. And transferring ownership to his brother is a joke.
Finally, with all of these conflicting power centers, you will have a colossal battle of egos within the DT White House. None of these people are teams players. Rather, each will be fighting for their own agendas. And good ole Reince is so far underwater, he will end up being a scheduler–at best.
In short, I don’t think we have a clue how the government will operate with a total lack of true leadership. It has never happened before. Add to that you have a bunch of agency heads who likewise are utterly unqualified to lead the respective agencies they will be appointed to lead. It will be a fiasco. But what is true is that once something goes wrong, it will be far worse than we can begin to imagine at this point.
It will be hard for them to ‘drain the swamp’ when living in the swamp is status quo. Unlike Gaia’s swamp, which is a living ecosystem in itself, this mass of immorality is devoid of all Light it Soul level Consciousness, not really human but presenting in human form.
Agree with all of your observations. See my reply to rikyrah on how DJT skirts ethics and disclosure laws with #ShadowPresident, whose father was sent to federal prison in 2005 (ironically prosecutor was Chris Christie).
I’ve never read about the Mafia, have never seen the Godfather movies, don’t know any Italian-Americans, but there’s a Mafia term for what Jared will be — Capo?
Aside from all the havoc done by DJT Adm by Steve Bannon and other white supremacists, DJT’s entire term will be one scandal after another, one investigation after another.
House Judiciary Cmte Dems are urging the DOJ and Office of Gov't Ethics to review Jared Kushner's appointment in the Trump admin: pic.twitter.com/QbdGFqCEKu
Finally, I don’t know if HRC’s role in WJC’ adm changes DOJ’s view of nepotism (radio tells me that DOJ ruled that these rules don’t apply to White House, and came to that conclusion when HRC headed up health care reform in the 1990s).
Justice Dept. once told Jimmy Carter anti-nepotism law barred his kid from WH internship, Trump tests that w Kushner https://t.co/C1pVQAumuO
Good day Arapaho! There is an excellent article in the WaPo on this today. Haven’t read the opinion, but the “expert” says that the part about Hillary is dicta, which means non-binding and not a ruling by the court. it was with respect to her role in the healthcare debate i believe. But the statute is plain, it states that it applies to the president. Hard to overlook:-)
And I’d argue even that is significantly different, it was one very specific role. Here Kushner will be in on every decision. And by not taking a salatry, he avoids the financial disclosure rules which is even worse.
We simply have never seen anything like this before, and he hasn’t been sworn in yet. It will get much, much worse.
Now i can admit it, i always thought that Bernie was a Russian plant to split the Democrat vote. With all that’s happening doesn’t seem so farfetched now than when it first occurred to me during the primaries. Jared = hands under the table/behind the curtains of the puppet.
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
❤
Well, look at you! ❤
So, be sure to check out the NatGeo link below! 🤗😅
Yes, I did see that pic on a previous thread, but who noticed there was a story attached to it? Not I! 🙂 ❤
Late congrats on such a special evening.
Congrats on first!
Congratulations, Mighty Pamela!
Aloha Obamadons! This is pretty funny http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/34220655/in-kakaako-t-shirt-shack-with-a-single-product-to-pay-homage-to-obama
Does anybody have any balloons?
Even if it’s just pushed ahead, I’m good for now.
If it were not for those 15 degrees outside my doors, I would run to get those balloons we so need right now. Instead, I wish I could buy a burial place for the Repeal Obamacare exercise.
It’s probably not dead yet, but, yes, let’s get that burial place ready!
Oh, wah wah wah. May they rot in hell
Big time!
Gret point from the article…(this is why Republicans lie to their constiuents)
Republicans have yet to unify around a single, concrete, scorable plan because it is conceptually impossible to design a health-care plan that meets conservative ideological goals and is also acceptable to the broader public.
ohhh…I’m Prettyfoot unveiled…smilin…
Ha. You got us. And you are “Pretty” everywhere, turns out!
hahaha…thanks…
Good evening Nerdy & TOD!!
I am praying tonight so that Dems may grow a spine and stay on line. No negotiating. Not one word!
there have been times during the last 8 years when the Senate Dems hung together like a blue wall..i believe that this will be another time
finally a bit of good news
A-hem: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/02/photographing-president-obama-underwater-snorkeling/
GE MP.
This was posted on the previous thread (definitely worth posting the tweet again, for the photo):
What’s great about this article, is that this was PBO’s response when Pete Souza introduced him to the photographer 🙂 :
❤❤
GE TODville.
GOP Senators are finding out tonight that their misguided effort to strip millions of Americans of medical insurance (now that they don’t face the prospect of a veto pen) isn’t as easy as obstructing and yelling NO (as they did 50 times previously).
I was as alarmed as Meta when I saw the Gizmodo report on the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and his deputy asked to leave on Jan 20, but saw this pushback from a Reuters reporter:
Heavenly Father thank you on behalf of the sick and frightened that the RATS (republicans are thrashy shit) dont have the votes to make America sick again
Oh, Anjo. What a prayer! I need to learn it and repeat it every day for the next 4 years.
AMEN!!!
and I reeeealy love your term RATS 🙂
Amen.
Just saw a ’90s clip of the Clintons as they were marching in one of his Inaugural parades … and got a sweet flashback of Joe Biden as he walked the walk in ’09 … he kept running over to talk with spectators and stuff, having the time of his life! Joe’s gotta be Joe!
GE JER and JO’B.
Good to hear, would expect nothing less for PBO’s final 😦 speech as an elected official.
MSM still hasn’t figured out that PBO is truly passing the torch to young leaders and activists — that’s his mission in life, to get people wear the mantle of citizen and accept the responsibility and power of that position.
Yes, we shall be hearing a great deal from “Barack H. Obama, J.D., Citizen” !!!!
This Russian Obsession Shows How Trump Will Be Undone. The crazy tweeting, the wild contortions; Trump’s in a hole that he can’t stop digging.
The Senate *knows* how unethical DJT cabinet nominees are, so they’re trying to get them confirmed by scheduling overlapping hearings for the nominees.
They are probably hoping to limit the press coverage of the hearings because of limited staff available to cover multiple hearings.
Wednesday schedule:
9 am – Rex Tillerson (State) / Foreign Relations Committee
10am – Mike Pompeo (CIA) / Intelligence Committee
10am – Betsy DeVos (Education) / Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee
10:15am – Elaine Chao, wife of McConnell (Transportation) / Commerce Committee
2pm – John Kelly (DHS) / Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will consider DHS nominee Gen. John Kelly at 2 p.m.
2pm – Jeff Sessions* (Attorney General) / Judiciary Committee
* Sessions testifies tomorrow; Wednesday’s session will feature witnesses on his behalf
From the RCP article:
“Nineteen Republican senators sit on at least two of those five committees and will likely have to balance simultaneous hearings; three Republicans — Ron Johnson, Rand Paul and Todd Young — sit on three of the committees. Fifteen Democrats sit on two of the committees, though none sit on three or more.”
That’s rich. And a riot. Before reading the story, my first guess was that RWNJs in the Senate felt they could use her as their choice du jour to “postpone” (and make themselves look as though they care about all the “what’s the rush” questions) because she’s a woman nominated to be Sec. of Ed. – both disposable “life positions,” in their eyes.
This woman needs to see a serious psychiatrist with advanced degree.
Thanks, JOB!
Never liked this woman.
From our very own LL:
Has anyone here watched Bernie’s town hall? I didn’t know about it nor would I have done anything different tonight. But I heard that The Great Nina Turner was at it again, implying that Dems lost because The Bern was not the Dem chosen nominee.
I was aware of it but I refused to watch.
He is probably afraid of his shadow…
Goodnight TOD ….
That is I, running off to bed. jk. Ha! Goodnight, Bob!
Thought I’d write this before the President’s Farewell Address tomorrow night, because I’ll be in no state to do much through my tears after that! And goodnight, TODville!
***
Orator-in-Chief
He wrote what he saw “in Lincoln’s eyes”
And to some of us reading it was no surprise
That we were certainly in for a treat
When Barack H. Obama rose to his feet
Remember when we heard him speak
At that Democratic National Convention
His remarks got rave reviews in ’04
Much more than honorable mention
And during his first presidential campaign
When we craved to hear him even more
Remember he told us that we … we …
Were the ones we’d been waiting for
When he cajoled we’re ” … a nation of immigrants …
… strangers once, too,” he stood tall
Prodding us to come together as one, for
“Embracing tribe dooms us all”
From his loftiest words heard in a consoling speech:
“Faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have doubt”
To his hysterically funny two words to the press:
“Obama, Out!”
Sometimes he delivered oration in a hymn
Often his words caught us all on fire
This man seems to have come out of history
In colonial days, he’d have been a town crier
We love this man, his mind, voice, and tone
We see he’s armed us better than we were before
And when we wonder if we’ll be able to go it alone
We whisper we are the ones we’ve been waiting for
And isn’t that the proof of the orator he’s been
And the fact we seldom see his kind
We’re not sure which of our heartstrings he pulled
But we know he also left his words in our minds
And this year we thank him
Genuinely, without measure
For being Orator-in-Chief
And our national treasure.
beautiful, Jacqueline ❤
Hugs and kisses, j’ob! This is wonderful!! Thank you!!
Our National Treasure….
love your poem JOB
Thanks so much!
Fabulous poem Jacqueline. Thank you for sharing it. You are simply the best ❤
I want to make a few points and most will probably not agree with me, but like all things election, I always say only time will tell.
There are a few things I am pretty sure of, as sure as anybody can be without actual evidence.
The first is that: Russia is one of two main countries that tampered with the US 2016 elections, the second is Israel. Unfortunately the US govt is so used to covering up Israeli govt’s backstabbing acts against her, they have covered this up automatically. Israel knows it and continues to count on it.
The second is that President Barack H Obama, a man with such a big heart for people was the last chance the US had to embrace sanity. Instead majority rejected him and thus the result is what 2016 election became.
The third is that what people think is going to happen (from the new US admin to everybody else in the US and around the world) is not what is really going to happen, it is really going to be worse.
The fourth is that election results were tampered with electronically. Anybody who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth on purpose or genuinely do not know. These were tried in 2012 for Romney especially in OHIO that is why Karl Rove had a meltdown when he heard President Obama had won the state. Well it was perfected for 2016. All those US wide hacks prior to the 2016 elections were test runs.
The Fifth: I do not think calling US law makers is going to make much difference this time, I can say it has not seemed to have made that much difference when the law maker was republican. The democrats in govt generally tend to lack a backbone. They seem afraid of the republicans and many worship at their strategic feet. Unless you make them more afraid of you than the republicans and their clueless voters, you are not going to get anywhere. The United States of America just had one of the biggest election rigging done against its so called democracy, the biggest I have seen outside third world countries with no accountability or repercussions. If anyone thinks that just calling their law makers will make a difference you better think again.
The republicans just spat into the voters’ eyes and snatched up the prize and people did not rise up enough to challenge the results. The heart of what the US stands for just got gutted by a man who will be “king” and his foreign allies and all he gets are social media comments and a few protests? Now he knows he can do anything. That there is no pause in confirming him or any serious investigation tells him that he can pretty much do anything. He himself even alluded to it. To paraphrase him, He can kill someone openly on the street and still lose no voters(no accountability, no responsibility). He now knows that he can pretty much get away with anything.
The republicans are following in his footsteps and are starting to disregard the laws and processes that protected the institutions, govt and people. After all they know they do not need the voter to win an election all they have to do is “rig” the election. So the “third world” countries says to the US welcome to the club. By winning this way, it is irrelevant who is majority in the US, they will win everywhere they need to win even in the heart of minority districts because they have found a way to rig elections.
No human empire lasts for ever, they will try but one thing they all have in common, is that the seed of their destruction always came from within not without. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting and the resistance of lawmakers to do anything to address the issue, that indicated it was only a matter of time for this United States. The blood of those innocents and others are still wailing for the conscience of a once great nation.
The conscious of the nation has been blind and indifferent since its inception. A country built on genocide and slavery was never great. A country where power has always been concentrated with the wealthy has never been equal. A country where women have always worked to build it and families and to still be paid less, treated dismissively, and objectified has never been great. What we have is a young nation that is going through all of the stresses and strains of growth. What we have is almost an entire continent as a country which is huge and unweildy and messy. What we have is a nation that is still trying to figure out what is an American and what does it mean. Hope we struggle with so much, it is not the time to throw out the baby with the bath water. We have the seeds of all that we require to be a truly great country, but we all need to work in any way that we can to create a country for all. These divisions that we see today have been with us since colonial times. The seeds of the civil war were planted in that period and the civil war and its aftermath are still influencing our current national life. We have lived through much in our quest to perfect our union, but when all is said and done, most of the movement has been forward. Just because the future is challenging and different from what we wished for is not the time to give up ; just the opposite is required. I prefer to follow the president’s example. In case you did not know, I am an African-American woman of a retain age who lives n the South. I have lived a life that my enslaved ancestors and even my own mother could barely imagine, so I know that while we have a long way to go before our nation is truly great, I know that we all get there.
I should do my proofreading before posting, but this is what you get at this early hour.
I hear you CEB, but even President Obama cannot control or do everything. He could not as president ( and having lurked on this site for 8 years I know you believe the same also) and he will not as a citizen, Though many unreasonably thought he should have been able to.
Yes you walk forward, but you prepare for really tough times.
The US was great in its own way and for a time they led the world. but a lot has changed over the years. The Bush Admin showed the weakness of the country and the Obama Admin through smart diplomacy and incredible strategic execution turned that weakness into strength.
The US reclaimed its place at the top again but welcomed partners. This I thought was very smart.
This incoming admin wants to double down on the Bush Admin’s bullying ways, “you are either with us or against us”. This is going to cause a lot of problems. All the trust that were given to the US by other nations will now be withdrawn. The reason being that the US cannot be trusted.
What I am hoping is that people will realize that the enemies of progress in the United States will not be swayed by tweets, marching or even calls, in fact if the calls become a nuisance they will relegate that number to the answering machine which will fill up very quickly or give the job to some poor intern in the basement somewhere. To reach these folks, the movement has to be creative, just like the Obama admin has been throughout their amazing 8 years in Office. These folks have always understood one thing and that is money. Resistance will be more effective with actions that they understand than those they do not or don’t care about.
Also it is about time “sane” Americans stop bailing out the “insane” ones (this includes people who refuse to vote), perhaps it is good for these folks to really experience the consequences of their actions. This may mean many who carefully cast their votes will suffer along with them but it is a necessary evil.
Just like when blacks demonstrated for Rosa Parks, many walked miles to work instead of taking the bus. They did it for the greater good. It was tough but necessary.
When you have a president who has no regard for the laws of the land, then the usual rules of engagement do not apply simply because he will not abide by it, so you better get creative or find you are losing the fight at the start of the battle.
I pray the Obama post presidency will be as beautifully strategic as it was during his 8 years as president. But that man needs to rest! Most people forget that he has been at this from 2007. He did not even get to rest after winning because the crisis hit and the fearless leader President Bush went into hiding! Then it was the pirates, one thing after another and he has come through with flying colours.
He and Michelle needs to just get away from the past 8 years and rest. Hopefully ordinary Americans will carry the Barton in the meantime.
Pardon any spelling or grammatical errors. Thanks. 🙂
OMG, THIS MORON DISGUSTS ME. He crossed the line, FOREVER.
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time”
YES. And this mope has shown us over and over and over again.
Yep. One of the dumbest things dems did was allow him to run as a democrat. I really hope they have learned a lesson here. I’m still trying to understand the draw to this guy. Have never gotten it.
What Bernie means is that he connects with white people which is still the holy grail for everyone running for any office. Most do not think a win is a win unless a minority of whites vote for them. Votes from others is a nice aside, a way to pad the votes but not the main ingredient. So now everyone will be doubling down on how to appeal to them.
Should be: a majority of whites vote for them.
sounds like the accolades that Trump gave Putin…
And so a final word from this stupid fucker, who, if by some miracle had been the dem nominee, but who had watched the election he won by millions of votes, taken away from him by a defunct Electoral College, would be standing there now, giving thedonalddimbulb ‘his due’? I say, yo bern, were you a gop plant after all, making sure there was no chance a woman would become President? Sure seems like you’ve exposed yourself this time. Faker. Must feel good to have sold your own soul.
This ^^^^
We are all there with you in spirit!!
Yes we can!!
This guy is unfit to even be HUMAN. NO.NO.NO.
Track the corruption. corrupt.af
You know what I think? I think we take Ms. Conway up on her challenge to “pay attention to what’s in DT’s heart.”..How about we start with the firing of Mr. Brotman. That was evil AND cruel! Done, Kelly….there IS no heart in there! FU!
I tweeted Kellyannepolls that should read KJV Luke 6:45
Excellent!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/09/rep-lewis-to-join-ag-confirmation-panel.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl
Sen. Jeff Sessions’s confirmation hearing for the post of U.S. attorney general will pit him against civil-rights advocates Rep. John Lewis (D-AL), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Sessions has Donald Trump’s backing for the Cabinet post, and the support of Republican colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee where Sessions will have his confirmation hearing. But that same committee previously rejected Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986, when his behavior was deemed too racist for the post. Sessions’s alleged bigotry is expected to be front and center when his confirmation hearing begins Tuesday.
FYI –
Wow.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/10/litvinenko-suspects-on-u-s-sanctions-list.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl
wo men among five new names on a U.S. sanctions list against Russia are the suspects believed to have carried out the London polonium poisoning of Kremlin foe Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun are just two of the 44 Russians that President Obama has ordered censured before he leaves the White House in 10 days. Litvinenko died of radiation poisoning. A U.K. inquiry determined that Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, was most likely killed at the personal order of President Vladimir Putin. The people named in the U.S. sanctions are banned from traveling to the States and have had any assets within the country frozen.
You don’t say…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/10/russian-ambassador-to-attend-trump-s-inaugural.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl
Quick Takes: Rushing Hearings on Trump Nominees
by Nancy LeTourneau
January 9, 2017 5:02 PM
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to rush through hearings on Trump’s nominees before they’ve completed background checks and ethics clearances. As Norm Eisen tweeted yesterday, this is simply another example of his hypocrisy.
In case that is difficult to read, the image is of a letter McConnell sent to Reid in 2009 enumerating the things that needed to be completed before hearings were scheduled on Obama’s nominees – including background checks and ethics clearances. McConnell writes:
In consultation with our Ranking Members, we affirm our commitment to conduct the appropriate review of these nominations, consistent with the long standing and best practices of committees, regardless of which political party is in the majority.
* After hearing from Democrats about the need to slow down the process, yesterday McConnell suggested that he would move forward with the rushed hearings and that Democrats need to “grow up.” That elicited some A+ trolling from Schumer on twitter today.
WOOT!!!!
This is MY PRESIDENT. OUR PRESIDENT.
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/01/09/obama-the-best-is-yet-to-come/
You may have heard that the Obamas held a star-studded farewell party at the White House last Friday night. What you might not have heard is that the President has also been holding a series of short meetings in the Oval Office with friends and supporters. The former Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, was one of the people who received such an invitation. He wrote about his experiences on Facebook.
Rybak starts off by talking about his despair at seeing the viewing stand being built for the Trump inauguration…remembering the pride he felt eight years ago in our new president, Barack Obama. But the despair dissipated as he was welcomed into the Oval Office.
I went through security into the White House because the President invited me in to come by for a few minutes before he left office. I turned the corner to the Oval Office to see him looking more energized than he has in months, and with that huge smile on this face that has lifted so many of us so many times…
He put his arm on my shoulder and looked at me intensely, saying, “We aren’t done yet.”
I wish I could have bottled the look in his eyes so all the people I know, and don’t, who feel dishearten now, who are so fearful of what comes next, and who feel a sense of loss, know he is absolutely not, under any circumstances, going to stop fighting for what we believe in.
“I’m going to take a little vacation,” he said, “get a little sun, but then we are right back at it. ”
He told me about the work he will be doing on youth and families, on getting more people engaged in voting, on protecting liberties. Then he said the words that meant the most to me: “The best is yet to come.”
Would follow him to the ends of the Earth and back again.
WP must’ve eaten my post….This is Mayor Ryback’s thoughts on the farewell party for PBO
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2017/01/obama-best-is-yet-to-come.html
Concert for PPP in DC day before inauguration.
Thank you VP Biden and Dr. Biden. Thank you for representing this country and for being good friends to our POTUS and FLOTUS.
LIVE: Vice President Joe Biden visits the Motor City. Watch him speak live on FOX 2 News Now.
GM/GA Allison.
Don’t know who Charlotte Church is, but Wikipedia tells me that she’s Welsh.
Here’s a response from an American musician.
Thanks, Arapaho. I’m surprised he can’t get any country singers to perform!
Kushner going to the White House as an ‘ unpaid advisor’.
…………………
This is ridiculous.
Utterly ridiculous.
I keep on imagining President Obama trying to install Craig Robinson or his sister’s husband into a position of power in his White House.
sorry…I had to stop because I was doubled over with laughter at the preposterousness of it all.
And, the phucking bullshyt of him not taking a salary?
Don’t get me started on that obvious corruption.
GM/GA rikyrah.
DJT and family are soaked through with corruption and greed.
Americans must rely on our elected officials to do the right thing.
Oh how this country will learn to appreciate what we had these pass eight years in the White House..
petesouza — Daddy, don’t embarrass me. At least that’s what it feels like Sasha is saying to her father. The Obama family had come onstage at the conclusion of an In Performance at the White House on “The Motown Sound,” a concert celebrating Black History Month and the legacy of Motown Records in 2011.
Good day TOD. Looking forward to the President’s speech tonight, although i suspect I will be viewing it through tears.
I think the Jared Kushner appointment is fascinating on a couple of levels.
First, it is DT’s first test of whether he can get away with violating laws in addition to norms. The anti-nepotism statute is clear and applies. DT is flagrantly disregarding it.
Second, I have suspected for quite some time that DT’s family plays a protective role with him. I suspect he misses at least half of what takes place in many conversations due to his limited attention span and another quarter because he doesn’t understand what is being discussed. He then relies on Kushner and Ivanka to later advise him on what he missed and what he didn’t comprehend.
Third, Kushner has his own interests in addition to and apart from DT, thereby increasing all the potential conflicts a hundred fold. We have even less of a clue than we do of DT what those interests are. And transferring ownership to his brother is a joke.
Finally, with all of these conflicting power centers, you will have a colossal battle of egos within the DT White House. None of these people are teams players. Rather, each will be fighting for their own agendas. And good ole Reince is so far underwater, he will end up being a scheduler–at best.
In short, I don’t think we have a clue how the government will operate with a total lack of true leadership. It has never happened before. Add to that you have a bunch of agency heads who likewise are utterly unqualified to lead the respective agencies they will be appointed to lead. It will be a fiasco. But what is true is that once something goes wrong, it will be far worse than we can begin to imagine at this point.
It will be hard for them to ‘drain the swamp’ when living in the swamp is status quo. Unlike Gaia’s swamp, which is a living ecosystem in itself, this mass of immorality is devoid of all Light it Soul level Consciousness, not really human but presenting in human form.
GM FFTX.
Agree with all of your observations. See my reply to rikyrah on how DJT skirts ethics and disclosure laws with #ShadowPresident, whose father was sent to federal prison in 2005 (ironically prosecutor was Chris Christie).
I refuse to click on any Intercept links, but this tweet is a good reminder.
I’ve never read about the Mafia, have never seen the Godfather movies, don’t know any Italian-Americans, but there’s a Mafia term for what Jared will be — Capo?
Aside from all the havoc done by DJT Adm by Steve Bannon and other white supremacists, DJT’s entire term will be one scandal after another, one investigation after another.
Finally, I don’t know if HRC’s role in WJC’ adm changes DOJ’s view of nepotism (radio tells me that DOJ ruled that these rules don’t apply to White House, and came to that conclusion when HRC headed up health care reform in the 1990s).
Good day Arapaho! There is an excellent article in the WaPo on this today. Haven’t read the opinion, but the “expert” says that the part about Hillary is dicta, which means non-binding and not a ruling by the court. it was with respect to her role in the healthcare debate i believe. But the statute is plain, it states that it applies to the president. Hard to overlook:-)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/10/donald-trumps-first-attempt-to-ignore-the-law/?tid=sm_tw_pp&utm_term=.76f60448ca39&wprss=rss_the-fix
And I’d argue even that is significantly different, it was one very specific role. Here Kushner will be in on every decision. And by not taking a salatry, he avoids the financial disclosure rules which is even worse.
We simply have never seen anything like this before, and he hasn’t been sworn in yet. It will get much, much worse.
Ten days left for our President and First Lady.
Now i can admit it, i always thought that Bernie was a Russian plant to split the Democrat vote. With all that’s happening doesn’t seem so farfetched now than when it first occurred to me during the primaries. Jared = hands under the table/behind the curtains of the puppet.
A FLASHBACK TO 2008…
New post/
https://theobamadiary.com/2017/01/10/orator-in-chief/
exactly– and not even trying to hide it