Black-Owned

I never imagined that something I'm so passionate about could mean so much to so many! The response has been incredible and I am beyond honored and humbled that @michelleobama wore my design. pic.twitter.com/rbkEZ7HUei

— BYCHARI (@ByChari) August 18, 2020

Confirmed: Michelle Obama's "vote" necklace was made by Black-owned jewelry brand ByChari.#DemConvention https://t.co/wDUVUYSwux

— Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) August 18, 2020

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@MichelleObama has always been extremely conscious that whatever she wears will likely sell-out, and as such often champions smaller, less-well-known labels and brands, many with culturally diverse owners/designers.

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) August 18, 2020

Designer ByChari Deluged With Orders for Michelle Obama’s ‘VOTE’ Necklace https://t.co/X4FIMaY1FA via @thedailybeast

— jeanie 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️ (@jeaniezk) August 18, 2020

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Someone find me Michelle Obama's VOTE necklace immediately please, I need to wear it every day for the rest of my life.

— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) August 18, 2020

Psst, Biden team: start selling that vote necklace @MichelleObama is wearing and you'll fund ads for the next 77 days.

— Christina Reynolds (@creynoldsnc) August 18, 2020

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Mom and sister eager to buy one of the ‘Vote’ necklaces Michelle Obama is wearing...

— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) August 18, 2020

My Forever FLOTUS @MichelleObama at the DNC

Her necklace, last night: The Message Couldn't Be Any Clearer!

V-O-T-E pic.twitter.com/JlpFuMpOlo

— Consult A Friend LLC (@IEPspecialist) August 18, 2020

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Okay, can we all take a moment to appreciate Michelle Obama's "Vote" necklace?! 😍 pic.twitter.com/U4j7LxuF89

— Angela (@anzawose) August 18, 2020

.@MichelleObama’s VOTE necklace is all I need right now.

— Kate Waters (@KMB_Waters) August 18, 2020

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“Michelle Obama necklace,” “vote necklace” and “letter necklace” are breakout searches, past hour, US -

The necklace is the top trending search on all of US Google in the last hour of the event.https://t.co/I0WiP7r7bt

— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) August 18, 2020

Michelle Obama knocks it out of the park for the win!!!

And get into her VOTE necklace. #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/9kevB48wgv

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 18, 2020

The Day in Images

President Obama congratulates Alexis Marisa Werner with open arms during the US Naval Academy commencement ceremony in Annapolis

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Text of the President’s remarks here

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First Lady Michelle Obama visits Savoy School, one of eight schools selected last year for The Turnaround Arts Initiative at the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, May 24

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Text of the First Lady’s remarks at Savoy Elementary School here

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President Obama signs a bill in the Oval Office designating the Congressional Gold Medal to commemorate the four young girls killed during the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, as (L-R) Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Dr Sharon Malone Holder, Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep Terri Sewell (D-AL), Thelma Pippen McNair, mother of Denise McNair, Lisa McNair, sister of Denise McNair, Dianne Braddock, sister of Carole Robertson, Rev Arthur Price, Jr, pastor 16th Street Baptist Church, and former U.S. Attorney Gordon Douglas Jones look on. The medal, the highest Congressional civilian honor, was given posthumously to Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair who died September 15, 1963 when a bomb planted by white supremacists exploded exploded at the church

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Catching Up

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Later Today:

1:10: President Obama returns from the United States Naval Academy to the White House

2:15: Signs a bill designating the Congressional Gold Medal commemorating the lives of the four young girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing of 1963

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The Hill: President Obama will sign a bill Friday awarding the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, the White House said Thursday.

The bombing at the church, which civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy used as a meeting place, by members of the Ku Klux Klan proved a pivotal turning point in the push for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The dynamite blast killed four girls — Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair — and injured an additional 22 others.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award bestowed by the legislative branch…

More here

“These children, unoffending, innocent, and beautiful were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity,” said the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a eulogy for the four children–Addie Mae Collins, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14. “They died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity.”

More here

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Paul Krugman: Obamacare Will Be A Debacle — For Republicans

… the biggest test case was always going to be California …. well, the preliminary numbers are in – and they’re looking very good, with costs coming in below expectations. At this point, it looks as if this thing is indeed going to work.

….. the whole political calculus was supposed to be that Republicans in red states could point to the horrors of Obamacare and ride them to political victory. Instead, it looks as if we’re going to see blue-state residents reaping the benefits of a functional health care system, while red-state residents are denied many of those benefits, for what looks like no better reason than mean-spirited spite – because what’s going on is, indeed, mean-spirited spite.

Predictions that Obamacare will be a big political issue are probably right – but not in the way gleeful conservatives imagined.

Full post here

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CNN Money: Health insurers in California will charge an average of $304 a month for the cheapest silver-level plan in state-based exchanges next year, according to rates released Thursday by Covered California, which is implementing the Affordable Care Act there. But many residents will pay a lot less than that for coverage.

Rates will vary by region, age and level of coverage, and many lower-income Californias will qualify for federal subsidies that will greatly lower the premiums…..

…. Oregon and Washington recently posted their rates, as well. They were also lower than some had expected.

“Many people will see rates similar to what they’re paying now, or in some cases, lower – and with substantially better benefits,” the Washington Insurance Department wrote in a blog post. “We’re definitely not seeing the huge rate increases that some insurers had predicted.”

More here

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Golden Gymnasts

President Obama talks with members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15. Pictured, from left, are: Steven Gluckstein, Savannah Vinsant, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber (Pete Souza)

Another Gorgeous Day……

Colorado College in Colorado Springs, August 9

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President Barack Obama talks with Paralympic athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., Aug. 9, 2012. The TV in the background broadcast the gold medal ceremony for the U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama jogs to the stage at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, August 9

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School teacher Christy Howard of Colorado Springs introduces President Barack Obama at Colorado College

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Pueblo, Colorado, August 9

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Romero’s Cafe and Catering, Pueblo

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Amk! Katie Taylor, the greatest sportswoman in the history of planet earth, won boxing gold today 😎 This is her home town reacting calmly to the result:

gold

Let’s do it again 😉

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Memory Lane….

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Win With Women

Thanks GGail

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Not an actual Huffy Post headline ….. but give them another day 😉

thursday

9:0 President Obama, Vice President Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama welcome South Korean President Lee and First Lady Kim to the White House

11:0 The First Lady invites the Republic of Korea’s First Lady Kim Yoon-ok to Annandale High School in Virginia

11:05 The President holds a bilateral meeting with President Lee and official U.S. and South Korean delegations

12:20 The President holds a joint press conference with President Lee

7:0 The President and First Lady welcome South Korean President Lee and First Lady Kim to the White House for a state dinner

November, 2009

raise your hopeful voice ….and give the day a chance to start

‘obama impersonator makes racial, gay jokes at gop gathering’ (updated with reply from that idiot’s agent)

Washington Post: A President Obama impersonator brought down the house Saturday at the Republican Leadership Conference, telling a string of racially themed jokes about the president.

The impersonator, Reggie Brown, took the stage at the annual presidential cattle call to the Bruce Springsteen song “Born in the USA” – an allusion to the birther controversy.

A sampling of what followed:

• On Black History Month: “Michelle celebrates the full month. I celebrate half.”

• “My mother loved a black man,” but “she was not a Kardashian.”

• A picture was shown of Obama and the first lady when he took office. The impersonator then showed a picture of what the Obamas will look like when the president leaves office, and it was the characters of Fred Sanford and his sister-in-law, Ethel, from the show “Sanford and Son.”

• Of Tim Pawlenty’s decision not to criticize Mitt Romney at Monday’s debate: “[CNN’s] John King served him up a ball softer than Barney Frank’s backside.” (Frank is a gay member of Congress from Massachusetts.)

….Eventually, Brown was ushered offstage by the man who introduced him. Conference organizers did not immediately respond to questions about why Brown was ushered offstage or whether his jokes were approved in advance.

Full post here

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Thanks to Lisa for this – from GOPolitico: “Brown didn’t just limit his jokes to Obama, though. He also mocked Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, ridiculed Newt Gingrich’s faltering campaign and suggested Tim Pawlenty needed a spinal transplant.

As Brown was preparing to make a Michele Bachmann joke, one of the conference’s officials came out to the lectern and told the comedian to leave the stage.”

So they were okay with the racist, homophobic stuff, they drew the line at him making jokes about Bachmann?

Oh boy.

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Our very own GGail contacted Reggie Brown’s agent (info@williamgold.com) – this is the reply she got:

“We’ve done the same speech in Harlem for a black advocacy group that we support and they laughed. It’s called comedy and I’m sorry that you don’t understand. The press is spinning this out of control and we would appreciate support from the public rather than falling into a media trap. Reggie is being used by the media both on the right and the left so that they can score political points at his expense. Our show was nothing more than political comedy that goofed on both sides; it wad no worse than what President Obama did at his own White House Correspondence Dinner.

Please support us…we need your help.”

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There are …. no words

the gop…..

Rep Steve King (R-Iowa), June 2: “Labor is a commodity, just like corn or beans or oil or gold.” (Full C-Span video here)

And lest we forget….

Thanks Michele