Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, Barack Obama participated in his final turkey pardon as our president, and much to the dismay of his daughters, he is promising to continue the festive tradition as a private citizen.
During the annual tradition, a turkey is “pardoned,” receiving a blessing to continue leading a long life and keep a safe distance from being served on someone’s Thanksgiving dinner table. This year, Obama brought along his adorable nephews to participate in the tongue-in-cheek ceremony.
“Of course, Thanksgiving is a family holiday as much as a national one,” Obama addressed those gathered with a grin. “So for the past seven years, I’ve established another tradition: embarrassing my daughters with a corny-copia of Dad jokes about turkeys.”
From there, the president elaborated that his daughters were happy to miss this year, mentioning that they had a scheduling conflict.
Breaking News: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died. He was 90 years old.
https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/status/802326718275055616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yeah, it’s good to be king.
https://twitter.com/TheBaxterBean/status/802209624518782976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/801969895147716610
https://twitter.com/Rewire_News/status/801636465537060864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ELLEmagazine/status/802285928123224064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/800854831804006400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/802248778052796416
Education expert David Johns muses on how the Obama administration (and family) made education “cool.”
Written By David Johns
There is something unique that happens when I enter a room filled with people of all races and ethnicities, socio-economic status, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, or disabilities and proudly say—
“On behalf of our President Barack Hussein Obama, our First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama, and my colleagues throughout the federal government, I thank you for supporting the learning and development of African American students.”
“The Obama effect,” as some researchers have called it, is especially apparent when I am in community with young people. Black children, in particular, sit up a little taller, smile warmly with glittering eyes, and lean in whenever I talk about the efforts of the First Family to support their learning and to provide greater access to opportunity. For youth who have grown up with Obama, the image of the American president will never be the same. And unlike any other time I can recall, our First Family has managed to make education cool.
From the very beginning, President Obama has championed the importance of education. With stellar academic careers at Columbia University and Harvard Law School, President Obama firmly believes in the power of a quality education. His stance on education has remained consistent: If our nation makes the investment in education, children will have greater opportunities to compete in a global market and lead happy and productive lives.
https://twitter.com/GrabienMedia/status/802222963508576257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/tripgabriel/status/802227053948977153
https://twitter.com/jupiter896/status/802271394893598720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Looks like the “replacement kids” have been having a great time.
All things have their season, I suppose. But the end of the Obama years is just too sad given the outcome of the election.
https://twitter.com/PrettyFootWoman/status/802296570964217856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/mikiebarb/status/801765811878760448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Our4thEstate/status/802256171121811456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/PrettyFootWoman/status/802325042264686592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
uh huh
uh huh
Civility starts at home, Trumpies
Friday
Nov 25 2016
Posted by willykay
As an antidote to post-election despair coupled with disgust at the endless exhortations to be civil and strive for unity with an opposition that elected an ignorant, narcissistic grifter to lead the country, I wrote a letter to the editor (LTE) of the St. Louis Dispatch that was published on November 16. It was subsequently republished on the blog, Occasional Planet. The letter itself is not the subject of this post, however, but rather the chilling nature of the response it generated.
A few days ago, I received a phone message from a representative of the Post-Dispatch inquiring about whether or not I had received any “blowback” from the LTE since a gentleman in the same suburb in which I live had been receiving lots of unwarranted and unpleasant attention based on the mistaken perception that he had authored the letter. The mistake is easily explained. My first name “Willy” is a shortened version of a feminine name, and the gentleman in question is named “William,” shares my last name, and lives in the same suburb. Evidently some rabid Trumpie with more anger than brains had tried to look me up by name and city, the only identifiers printed in the paper, and jumped to the conclusion that the first likely name he found was the anti-Trump offender who he/she needed to silence.
In a subsequent conversation with the Post-Dispatch representative, I learned that the harassment was repeated over time and had reached the level of stalking. The Trumpie thug had informed his “lefty” victim that he knew the type of car he drives and would be watching him. This sort of implied threat, according to my informant, had left the poor man understandably nearly distraught.
I have never spoken to this man and cannot think of anything to do to help alleviate the distress he is experiencing because of my opinions – which I will, however, continue to express. In the future, however, I will use my full first name in order to avoid implicating the many innocent Williams in the area. Of course I know that small potatoes are the ones that grow in the future when the problem is here and now.
It’s also true that I don’t want to invite the attentions of this or any other unhinged rightwing crackpot; we’ve already experienced random if minor vandalism on our property in past years and, thanks to the NRA, people have far too much leeway in Missouri to shoot whenever emotion moves them. I also hope that the victim of these implicit efforts to violently repress free speech reports them to the police. If nothing more, we need to establish an official record of threats that are delivered in Trump’s name.
Walking While Black….
Officer, pedestrian bump shoulders. Now the pedestrian may face charges
By Nestor Ramos GLOBE STAFF
NOVEMBER 22, 2016
Cleon Hodge was walking toward the Porter Square T station on his way home from work last month, glancing down at a text message conversation a few minutes after 6 p.m., when he banged shoulders with another pedestrian.
“You gotta say ‘Excuse me’ if you’re going to try some cute [stuff] like that,” Hodge, 21, recalled telling the middle-aged man he’d collided with.
But the man was an on-duty plain-clothed police officer, Cambridge Detective Sergeant Thomas Ahern, and soon he was clutching Hodge by the sweatshirt while a small crowd gathered and a woman recorded the encounter.
Each man believed the other had initiated the contact — a fact of life in a crowded city, the type of encounter that typically ends in little more than mutual annoyance. But now Cambridge police are seeking assault and other charges against Hodge and a woman who tried to intervene, and pursuing a lesser charge against a second woman who recorded the incident with her cellphone.
The Oct. 13 incident and its aftermath, captured in four video clips by two bystanders, should raise serious questions about both Ahern’s handling of the situation and the resulting possibility of criminal charges, according to two civil right lawyers familiar with police abuse cases who reviewed the footage. Both were incredulous: How, they wondered, could what both men described as a minor collision between pedestrians on a crowded city street possibly be construed as assault and battery?
East Bay hate-crime slaying has musician’s kin seeking justice
By Sarah Ravani, Evan Sernoffsky, Jenna Lyons and Peter Fimrite
Updated 8:19 am, Thursday, November 24, 2016
One suspected killer was in custody and detectives were scouring the Bay Area on Wednesday for two alleged accomplices in the slaying of an African American musician who investigators said was targeted because of his race.
Daniel Porter-Kelly, 31, of Richmond, was arrested Nov. 16 and charged with murder, robbery and the special circumstance of committing a racially motivated crime, which could bring the death penalty if he is convicted.
He is being held without bail at the Martinez Detention Facility in the death of 28-year-old William Sims of Richmond, who was found beaten and shot on an El Sobrante roadway Nov. 12.
Contra Costa County sheriff’s investigators believe Porter-Kelly and two other men — Ray Simons, 32, of Hercules, and Daniel Ortega, 31, of Novato — attacked and killed Sims outside a nearby pool hall.
Simons and Ortega remained at large Wednesday. Porter-Kelly’s Berkeley-based defense attorney, Seth Morris, declined to talk about the case. All three men are white.
This will not end well.
https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/802302260965314560
My Christmas tree
That is a designer tree, SG2. Absolutely gorgeous.
Liza, I’m not good at decorating but I try.
Well, that’s more than trying, that is really beautiful.
Thank you, Liza. My little folks love it.
Yeah, Christmas is magical for the little folks. Thanks for sharing, SG2, it means a lot.
MAN….that’s beautiful.
Simply beautiful.
https://twitter.com/Reneeitchka/status/800095182721024000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/800426572738154496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://youtu.be/FmV2Dia3ylY
WATCH 8 HOURS OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING FROM BBC’S ‘BLACK AND BRITISH’ SEASON CELEBRATING BLACK PEOPLE IN THE UK
NOVEMBER 25, 2016
SHADOWANDACT
https://youtu.be/-R2QSXdu_yE
LOL
https://youtu.be/iIRLi-emN5g
LOL
RIKYRAH, AMETIA
check email
https://youtu.be/aKzCTshnf4w
https://twitter.com/DoctorYasmin/status/802153444308086784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/CBSMiami/status/802187433433559040
https://twitter.com/CynthiaRoldan/status/802216880333320193
Chief loan officer at Regions Bank
https://twitter.com/HGTomato/status/802211155817205761
Me: We need answers @askRegions
https://twitter.com/askRegions/status/802209783809970176
Me: Thank you for moving swiftly.
Thanks for being on top of things, SG2, and being effective.
We’re all in this together.
I just heard now this powerful song for the first time.
(Written by Bernice Reagon and performed by Sweet Honey in the Rock)
https://youtu.be/sUAbHhlOYhE&rel=0
The above posted video sends you to Youtube. Here is another:
https://youtu.be/p0UHqGIDcX0&rel=0
Well. Dude let his mouth get his ass kicked.
https://twitter.com/originalspin/status/802194653093232645
Good Lord. That racist f**ked with the wrong marine.
rolled up on the wrong one.
https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/802144116184416256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Maddow had a segment on Wednesday about the last time that there was such a disparity between the popular vote and who was President. wait for it……..it was the election that ended Reconstruction. I just pursed my lips and went Uh Huh.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/long-reach-to-find-precedent-for-2016-popular-vote-gap-in-us-past-816737347527
https://twitter.com/orlandosentinel/status/802182757573152768
https://twitter.com/NPR/status/802156058290651137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Good Morning, Everyone! 💁🏽😍💕🦃
https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/802182862791442432
Y’all see this? Let them keep on…. They’re gonna mess with the wrong one & it’ll be over.
https://twitter.com/MadameRamotswe/status/802170205480697856
https://twitter.com/georgesoros/status/801554949993852930
The Hill ✔ @thehill
Secret Service could be forced to pay millions to rent space in Trump Tower
Can you believe that?
Donald Trump and the Rise of Alt-Reality Media
You think the truth took a hit last year? It’s about to get worse. A lot
By CHARLES SYKES November 25, 2016
Earlier this year, I argued that the conservative movement did not merely have a Donald Trump problem—it had a media problem. As Trump slouched toward the nomination he was backed by a conservative media that had successfully created an alternative reality bubble around his candidacy. When Trump claimed that “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey had celebrated the attacks on 9/11, for instance, callers to my show lined up to provide supporting evidence the only source of which was an echo chamber of partisan bloggers; listeners chimed in with evidence they had seen on Facebook linking Ted Cruz’ father to the JFK assassination. Of course, we know the origin of that “evidence” was the National Enquirer. Crowd-sourcing has its limits.
As a #NeverTrumper, I had hoped that the election would prompt a moment of reckoning and introspection, not merely about conservative values but also the role of the conservative media. As someone who has spent much of his career promoting conservative values on my radio show, I was depending on it.
Clearly, that is not going to happen now. In fact, it’s going to get a lot worse.
Trump’s victory means that the most extreme and recklessly irresponsible voices on the right now feel emboldened and empowered. And more worrisome than that, they have an ally in the White House. For years, Rush Limbaugh has gibed about what he calls the “state-controlled media”—the fawning liberal news outlets that Limbaugh has long decried for their lack of critical coverage of President Obama—but we may be about to see what one actually looks like—an alt-reality news outlet operating from within 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The new media will not only provide propaganda cover for the administration, but also direct the fire of a loose confederation of conservative outlets against critics and dissenters. Already, Fox’s Sean Hannity has urged Trump to freeze out the mainstream media and talk directly to the nation.
RIP Florence Henderson.
2016 – brutal
done my Black Friday shopping. All hair stuff.
Natural hair folks.
Soultanicals – 50% off everything and free shipping
Camille Rose -25% off everything
Shea Moisture -30% off everything (hair, bath, etc) and free shipping
You SCORED BIG time, Rik!👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
Morning Everyone.
Good morning, everyone!
I had 11 people spend the night. Some are still here. We had a great time. Food was so good. Parker played with walnuts all day. She’d take them out of the basket and then put them back. Our little sweetie pie.
I know everything was delicious and a good time was had by all :)
The love & care you give to your family Shines!
I need a bigger fridge. I almost had no room to store food.
Dare I say it, SG2….not big enough fridge….1st world problems…LOL
LOL! I was starting to panic for a minute.
OMG, 11 still there? They’re going to eat all your leftovers, SG2.
They’re all gone now. They ate and are headed back home. We’ll do it again in a month.