Why Voting Matters

Loved talking to my friend @shondarhimes about @WhenWeAllVote and the importance of voting in every election. Your voice is your vote, so make sure you and everybody you know is registered and ready: https://t.co/BzpMEHUM22 https://t.co/qoMFDNVEev

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 22, 2020

I’ve talked about voting a great deal over the years, and my friend @MichelleObama explains its importance better than anyone. On the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, we spoke about why voting matters for @harpersbazaarus. https://t.co/oSad95S2aX

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 22, 2020

Becoming Me, Becoming Us, Becoming More

.@MichelleObama opens up to @RobinRoberts in revealing new interview; says she felt "lost and alone” after suffering miscarriage 20 years ago. Watch @ABC special covering her journey to motherhood and more from her memoir, "Becoming," Sunday night 9/8c. https://t.co/ONXwpuZ3WF pic.twitter.com/1Teb5ycWIe

— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 9, 2018

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Krissah Thompson: In Revealing New Memoir, Michelle Obama Candidly Shares Her Story

As Michelle Obama’s highly anticipated memoir “Becoming” arrives, it’s clear that the former first lady is occupying a space in the culture beyond politics. “I don’t think anybody will be necessarily prepared to read a memoir like this — especially coming from a first lady,” said Shonda Rhimes, the television producer, who read an advance copy of Obama’s book. The first-lady memoir is a rite of passage, but Obama’s is different by virtue of her very identity. “Becoming” takes her historic status as the first black woman to serve as first lady and melds it deftly into the American narrative. She writes of the common aspects of her story and — as the only White House resident to count an enslaved great-great-grandfather as an ancestor — of its singular sweep. “The whole [birther] thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed. But it was also dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks,” she writes. “What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that person went looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk. And for this I’d never forgive him.”

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.@MichelleObama to @RobinRoberts: "I think it's the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies." Watch the @ABC special covering her journey to motherhood and more from her memoir, "Becoming," Sunday night 9/8c. https://t.co/ONXwpuZ3WF pic.twitter.com/IoWLQSLuGd

— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 9, 2018

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She divides the memoir into three parts: Becoming Me, Becoming Us, Becoming More. The first section is a deep, often sociological exploration of Chicago and the people and institutions there. Its textured discussion of gentrification, public education, race and class are reminders that Obama majored in sociology and minored in African American studies at Princeton University. The second section, Becoming Us, is a romp through her romance with Barack Obama, starting a family with him and her search for work that she loved. It begins with words that have never before been written by a first lady about her man: “As soon as I allowed myself to feel anything for Barack, the feelings came rushing — a toppling blast of lust, gratitude, fulfillment, wonder.” She also shares intimate details for the first time, for instance, that she and her husband had trouble getting pregnant, suffered a miscarriage, and that both daughters were conceived through in vitro fertilization. And that she did a great deal of this while her husband was away serving in the state legislature, leaving her to administer the shots that are a part of that process herself.

More here

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Checking Out Doesn’t Pay Off

She has spoken. All around excellent woman and Former First Lady @MichelleObama wrote an op-ed for https://t.co/p04FKwIHs6 about voting! https://t.co/UMrOYjkIuy

— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) November 2, 2018

Inclusiveness

'Because one side, all men, all white.'

Watch Michelle Obama get real about the racial divide in Congress pic.twitter.com/f0h7Fu2cag

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 10, 2017

First Lady Michelle Obama At Pennsylvania Conference for Women

Watch complete conversation with @MichelleObama & @shondarhimes – Saturday October 7 at 8pm ET on C-SPAN https://t.co/D0IXG1wd7F https://t.co/oxVDoBthwQ

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 5, 2017

25 Years Of Love

Former Pres. Obama surprises former first lady Michelle Obama with special message on their 25th wedding anniversary https://t.co/IIBqOMHxnn pic.twitter.com/9Eo6jblqzF

— ABC News (@ABC) October 4, 2017

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Rise and Shine

President Barack Obama participates in a video teleconference with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, in the Situation Room of the White House, Oct. 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)

11:15AM: Pres. Obama and VP Biden receive the Presidential Daily Briefing

1:15PM: Press Sec. Jay Carney Briefs The Press

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ABC: President Obama Cancels Entire Asia Trip

President Obama has cancelled the rest of his trip to Asia next week, pulling out of summits in Indonesia and Brunei because of the ongoing government shutdown, the White House announced tonight.

“The president made this decision based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown, and his determination to continue pressing his case that Republicans should immediately allow a vote to reopen the government,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a written statement.

The president had planned to travel to Asia this weekend to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bali, Indonesia, and the East Asia Summit in Darussalam, Brunei.

More here

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https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/385797135876513792

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Vicki Needham: September Job’s Report Gets Pink Slip Amid Shutdown Drama

The Labor Department says it will not release the September jobs report Friday because the government remains shutdown. “Due to the lapse in funding” the Bureau of Labor Statistics will not be issuing the report as scheduled, the department said of the delay in a statement Thursday afternoon. An alternative release date has not been scheduled.

As the shutdown began Tuesday, all but three of the statistical bureau’s 2,400 employees were furloughed. Without a stage, the highly-anticipated monthly report that gauges the economy could create more problems. The lack of data could further shake already unstable financial markets that are reacting to the shutdown and looming debt limit. The Dow Jones dropped below 15,000 on Thursday and lost nearly 137 points.

More here

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Texas Tribune: Wendy Davis Makes It Official, Enters Governor’s Race

State Sen. Wendy Davis, standing on the stage where she got her high school diploma more than 30 years ago, finally announced Thursday what has been anticipated, telegraphed and talked about for weeks: She is running for Texas governor.

Davis promised to be an advocate for those who feel they no longer have a voice in the halls of the Texas Capitol, to fight for more education dollars and to take on Republicans leaders who she said are listening to their campaign contributors instead of average Texans.

More here