Take Up Space

We are shaken by the violence in our city that has left 8 ppl dead, including members of the Asian American community. We are gathering info about what happened & the needs of directly impacted are. Now is the time to hold the victims & their families in our hearts & with light pic.twitter.com/Hft5H7IZNW

— AdvancingJusticeATL (@AAAJ_Atlanta) March 17, 2021

I want to know their names, who and what they loved, the people they had waiting for them at home, everything they hoped for. I want to know the fabric of their days and the contexts of their lives.

— kat chow (@katchow) March 17, 2021

"Racism against AAPI Americans is not new.

Otherization of AAPI Americans is not new.

But the motto of the United States is E Pluribus Unum: 'Out of many, one.'

Asian-Americans are part of our country’s plurality.

We are some of the many, and we’re part of that one."#gapol pic.twitter.com/o2lzNb4iIy

— Dr. Michelle Au (@AuforGA) March 15, 2021

In less than 48 hours, we had a historic Asian Oscar moment with multiple firsts in 93 years—then a mass shooting targeting 3 Asian-owned businesses. This is how terrorism works—you’re not allowed to feel safe, accepted, or valued. We can resist. Take up space. Make noise.

— Min Jin Lee (@minjinlee11) March 17, 2021

Last night's shooting & the appalling rise of anti-Asian violence stem frm a sick society where nationalism has again been stoked & normalized. Anti-Black & anti-Asian racism & violence run in tandem in the U.S. Both grps were brought here for labor but never meant to be citizens

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Even as this country was recruiting Chinese men to come do the labor white workers would not, they barred Chinese women from entering the U.S. in order to ensure the men would not settle and start families in America.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Then this nation passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to prohibit Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. altogether. This nation's most egregious racist laws and racist Supreme Court rulings targeted Black and Chinese people because of the believe both were unassimilable.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

We had to get an amendment to the Constitution to guarantee Black Americans citizenship in their own country, and Chinese Americans had to take a case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to have their own citizenship recognized. https://t.co/7qY7M4f6ln

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

If you look at racial real estate covenants -- provisions placed on homes that restricted ownership by race -- they almost always restricted two races: Black and Asian.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

And, of course, during World War II, Japanese Americans were placed in internment camps but German Americans were not. And German prisoners of war were allowed to eat in restaurants in the American South that Black Americans soldiers home on leave were barred from.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act and explicitly racist immigration policy, the Asian population in the United States stayed relatively low until after the Civil Rights Movement and then we saw large numbers entering the U.S.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

And what has followed -- in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement and Black demands to dismantle white supremacy -- has been an enduring an attempt to use Asian immigrants and Asian Americans as a wedge against Black Americans.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

But the truth is that Asian Americans are only held up as a model to justify inequality and injustice visited upon Black Americans, but are seen by many white Americans as a problem and forever foreign otherwise. In other words, our struggles have always been tied together.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

I stand with my Asian-American brothers and sisters, just as so many of you have stood with us. I grieve. We must own all of this history -- ALL OF IT -- and determine to fight for a truly multiracial democracy where we all can be free.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) March 17, 2021

The reported shootings of Asian American women on Tuesday in Atlanta is an unspeakable tragedy – for the families of the victims first and foremost, but also for the AAPI community — which has been reeling from high levels of racial discrimination. https://t.co/rBVPnrEBps

— Stop AAPI Hate (@StopAAPIHate) March 17, 2021

A statement from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum makes the important point of how anti-Asian violence disproportionately impact women #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/npEpv31Oy1

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 17, 2021

Wow….

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First glance at tonight's China State Dinner. pic.twitter.com/8JSkABvvdX

— First Lady- Archived (@FLOTUS44) September 25, 2015

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https://twitter.com/BarockNoDrama/status/647557741326766080

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https://twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/status/647556216227561472

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rise and shine

President Obama speaks at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco, Feb. 16

*** See video of the speech here (thanks UT) ***

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Friday (all times ET)

12:00: PBO departs San Francisco en route to Everett, Washington

1:50: Arrives Everett

2:05: Tours the Boeing Everett Production Facility

2:25: Delivers remarks

5:00: Delivers remarks at a campaign event

6:45: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Westin Bellevue Hotel

8:00: Departs Everett en route to Washington, DC

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President Obama did not reprise his rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s stay together” in a duet with the famous crooner Thursday, saying once was enough.

“I took a chance at the Apollo and I’m not going to take a chance again,” he told supporters at a San Francisco fundraiser where Green performed the song solo, according to a pool report.

“Now, what is possible is after reelection, I might go on tour with the good Reverend. Be his opening act,” Obama said. “But I don’t want to lose any further votes because of my singing voice.”

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AP: President Barack Obama raised more than $29 million for his campaign and for the Democratic Party in January, a strong fundraising month that put him ahead of the pace he set in the last quarter of 2011.

….. The month’s haul raises Obama’s total combined fundraising for this election cycle to about $250 million. In the last three months of 2011, he averaged about $23 million a month.

…. Presidential candidates must submit January fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission on Friday. The Obama campaign’s full report is expected later in the day.

More here

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Morning everyone 😉

out west

President Obama walks off of Marine One and heads to Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport en route to San Francisco

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President Obama is greeted by, from left, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and California Attorney General Kamala Harris upon his arrival at San Francisco International Airport

Jodi Fisher of Cayucos, Calif., who has inoperable cancer, reacts to her daughter Callie, 11, after meeting President  Obama at San Francisco International Airport. Fisher was able to meet the President and fulfill a dream on what she calls her “wish” list.

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President Obama greets diners during a stop at the Great Eastern Chinese restaurant in San Francisco

😯

😯  😯

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Patch: President Obama has arrived in the Bay Area for a series of fundraising events in San Francisco for his 2012 re-election campaign.

Air Force One touched down at San Francisco International Airport at 12:39 p.m. The president’s first stop will be at a private reception at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel on Nob Hill at 2 p.m.

Obama will then head to a private fundraising dinner at a Pacific Heights home, and then give a speech at an 8 p.m. fundraiser at the Nob Hill Masonic Center featuring a performance by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell

evening all

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WAGA, Atlanta

PBO’s interview with WFLA, Tampa here and with KLAS, Las Vegas here

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CBS

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CNN: Mitt Romney’s overall favorable ratings have dropped, while Rick Santorum’s standing has jumped among Republicans, according to a new national survey.

…. In the new survey, 54% of Republicans said they hold a favorable opinion of Romney, while 67% said the same in January. Among all Americans, 34% described the candidate as likable, down from 41% last month.

…. only one presidential candidate in the race has a national favorable rating above the 50% mark: President Barack Obama.

Among all Americans, Obama received positive reviews from 53%, with the poll suggesting he may have grown more popular in recent months.

More here

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Bob Cesca: Regular people are donating to the president’s re-election campaign in record numbers:

According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, the Obama reelection campaign committee, Obama for America, pulled in at least 45 percent of its contributions from donors giving less than $200 during each of the fundraising quarters it was active in 2011…..

This is another strong indicator that the anti-Obama smearfest on the left is out of touch with the rest of the American left…..

More here

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Wednesday: PBO will travel to Master Lock in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last based on American manufacturing and the importance of companies insourcing and investing in America. He will then travel to Los Angeles, California where he will attend campaign events. He will spend the night in Los Angeles.

Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.

Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.

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From left, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke confer as President Barack Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the Oval Office, Feb. 14, 2012. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics; and Lael Brainard, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, are also pictured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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The Week

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Don’t miss Liberal Librarian’s new post at The People’s View

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ABC: For Jenna Lyons, Michelle Obama has been the best endorsement J. Crew has ever received …. (her) penchant for J. Crew clothing has been “the most incredible gift that keeps on giving.” Not only did the company see a “huge lift” in business, Lyons credited Obama, 48, with creating a special bond with customers.

…. When Obama appeared on “The Tonight Show” in 2008 and told Jay Leno that her yellow sweater, skirt and blouse were a “J.Crew ensemble,” the company’s stock went up 8.2 percent. In 2011, Business Insider credited her with contributing to one of the most successful re-branding campaigns ever…

More here

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afternoon all

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Greg Sargent: Despite birth control controversy, Obama suffers no erosion among Catholics

Since the birth control controversy broke, it has been an article of faith among even some neutral commentators that the battle would cause Obama to lose crucial support among Catholic swing voters.

But Gallup has performed a new analysis of its tracking data that should complicate this assertion: It finds that Obama has suffered no meaningful downturn in recent days among that consistuency, even among church-going Catholics.

More here

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TPM

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Later this afternoon, President Obama hosts another round of interviews with television stations – today’s lineup: KLAS, Las Vegas; WAGA, Atlanta; WFLA, Tampa; and WBTV, Charlotte, N.C.

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Steve Benen

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Ezra Klein

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President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office

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a gop candidate finally makes sense

Translation: “Perry and Bachmann are bat-shit crazy, and Romney, frankly, is a loathsome worm. And, to be honest, I’m pretty useless too. So, we have something in common, Piers.”

red alert

The Guardian: “I saw a piece in the New York Times claiming that the red Alexander McQueen dress Michelle Obama wore to last week’s state dinner for President Hu Jintao of China “sent out a number of signals. Fortunately, they were not mixed.” But what, precisely, were these signals?” Adam, by email

That she likes red? And she likes long dresses? And she’s fond of Alexander McQueen? Really, Adam, fashion isn’t quite as difficult to fathom as you seem to think. Or isn’t it . . . ?

Let us look at this from the perspective of someone who perceives conspiracy in the most seemingly innocent of places. I speak, of course, of Fox News’s highly imitable Glenn Beck. So give me a second while I don Beck’s famous glasses so I can see the world through his eyes.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what a terrifying world this is! Communists and Nazis beset me on all sides! And, oh my God, Michelle Obama’s dress! You know who else liked to wear red? Communists. Kill your grandparents and take your money.

And do you know who also wears long dresses? Fanatical Muslim women who want to bomb your house. And Alexander McQueen! Do you know who he was friends with? Kate Moss. And what was Kate Moss once caught doing? Taking drugs. Oh my God, the signals that dress is sending are that Michelle Obama is a communist fanatical Muslim who likes to freebase! America, save yourself!

🙂

mingling

President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China talk with guests during a reception in the Yellow Oval Room in the Residence of the White House

…..in the Blue Room of the White House, Jan. 19. (Official White House Photos by Pete Souza)

walking the walk

President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China walk along the Colonnade of the White House, Jan. 19, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)