Thursday Open Thread | James Baldwin Week

Posted on February 16, 2017 by rikyrah

BALDWIN’S NIGGER – James Baldwin and Dick Gregory

Baldwin’s Nigger 1 of 3

Baldwin’s Nigger 2 of 3

Baldwin’s Nigger 3 of 3

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83 Responses to Thursday Open Thread | James Baldwin Week

  1. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:36 pm
    Reply
  2. eliihass says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:26 pm

    This is how FOX ‘news’ seriously damages this country…

    And look at the token brother in the photo-op…

    Do these coal miners understand that it is actually their owners and their coal mines harming them..?

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BQmGkLRAAOg/

    Reply
  3. eliihass says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    Scrap that, the last link does work…

    “…While the administration is battling a large swath of the media, the fight with CNN has special intrigue because its parent company has a massive piece of business awaiting government approval: a proposed $85.4 billion sale to AT&T Inc. Messrs. Kushner and Ginsberg, who have been friends for a decade and whose discussion covered a variety of issues including Israel and the economy, didn’t discuss the merger in their recent meeting, said the people familiar with the matter…”

    Reply
  4. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:06 pm
    Reply
  5. eliihass says:
    February 16, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    Hardwood turns down the job for National Security Adviser..

    Not necessarily because he has integrity or honor…but because he’s acutely aware of the sh*t-fest happening right now within and around that now thoroughly desecrated White House…

    It is important to stress that anyone who’s even marginally aligned themselves with this evil on any level, and in any capacity, is already suspect and pretty much slime…and no

    Besides, Harwood already has a sweet gig going with Lockheed Martin…he’s not going to mess with that pocket-lining sweet spot…

    But it is important to understand why the buffoon pretend potus is endlessly going all out praising and defending ‘Mike’…and crazily trying to shift the blame on the media for Flynn being gone from the sweetest most powerful position spot Putin also got him…

    ‘Mike’ Flynn like most of the buffoon’s inner circle, is a vengeful ticking time bomb with loads of damning tales (and supporting documentation) to tell…What must now be a very desperate ‘Mike’ who already had a negative reputation and a hard time getting a gig ever since he was fired by President Obama …and so was ripe for the plucking by Putin who became his sole source of income – in exchange for doing Putin’s bidding..

    And if the buffoon does not do everything to absolve ‘Mike’, ‘Mike’ will not only squeal, but will take them all down with him…

    A down and out dubious and arrogant guy whose reputation was already is in complete tatters, has pretty much nothing left to lose..

    And let’s not forget that equally vile and aggressively vindictive spawn of ‘Mike’s’ …the son that also doubles as his chief of staff…

    The buffoon will for the short term keep trying to appease and play Flynn, until he doesn’t…and a desperate and spawned and broke Flynn will then lash out…

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      February 16, 2017 at 6:46 pm

      Dish that TRUTH, lady.
      That cluster fuckpresser by #45 clearly illustrates the coming MELTDOWNN-TAKE DOWN of the Cheeto Bandito POS.

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        February 16, 2017 at 7:22 pm

        The buffoon fancies himself a ‘charmer’ …one who can ‘charm’ you without any remorse still …while or after he’s screwed you over …sold you out, or outright slandered, ridiculed and stolen from and brazenly cheated you…

        Something his pals – like the whiplash-inducing, 5-prong tongued, mealy-mouthed, now you see, now you don’t, captain so obvious, faux spin-master, opportunistic, wannabe accepted by the cool progressive New Yorkers, vile racist Joe Scarborough – have repeated so often to stroke the buffoon’s ego…so much so that the buffoon actually believes it and thinks that it’s not only true, but tries to wield it as an alternative to honest, above-board dealings and even arrogantly as some sort of diversionary panacea to still unapologetically and voluntarily and brazenly keep enacting and implementing destructive policies and actions that continue .. even as he works his supposed ‘charm’…

        Reply
  7. eliihass says:
    February 16, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    It is important that permanent floodlights be unrelentingly fixed on Jefferson Beauregard Sessions at all times…

    The dealings and whereabouts of that vile racist white supremacist rat must also be top of mind at all times..

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2017 at 6:05 pm

      Absolutely no loss here…

      Are we actually supposed to feel sad or outraged on behalf of this self-loathing, opportunistic black person willing to do just about anything – including sell his soul to the devil, to advance himself…Painfully mediocre tokens and hollow sell-out dregs, unashamed to provide cover for a mess of porridge, for vile white supremacists that look down on them, in exchange for political gigs they’d otherwise be unqualified – and never ever have been considered for…

      Any black person that proudly identifies as a ‘republican’ can’t and shouldn’t ever be respected or taken seriously ..or ever allowed back in the community…

      Reply
  10. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    February 16, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/media:ebd26674380b43f2bb4e764f2fda8a42/800.jpeg
    https://twitter.com/AP_Oddities/status/832314915805360129

    Excerpt from article linked in above tweet:

    MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — “A pet squirrel named Joey prevented a burglary attempt in Idaho last week by scratching the teen suspect when he tried to break into a gun safe, police said.

    “The unidentified teenager told officers that the squirrel’s attack “scared him, obviously, because he wasn’t expecting to have, you know, a squirrel come flying out of nowhere at him,” said Officer Ashley Turner of the police department in Meridian, a Boise suburb. “So basically he said he took what he could and left as fast as he could.”

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 3:50 pm

    While Trump keeps demonizing refugees, FBI quietly arrests another white supremacist. https://t.co/fBYG0kt7c3

    — Mark Elliott (@markmobility) February 16, 2017

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Why Trump Makes Me Want to Throw Up
    by Martin Longman
    February 16, 2017 3:26 PM

    As I watched President Trump’s news conference today (transcript here), I discovered that I was becoming more and more sick to my stomach. At a certain point, I had to repress the impulse to actually go loiter around my toilet just in case I actually needed to vomit. And I started to think about why it is that the man makes me physically ill.

    It really gets to a core value I have about truthfulness. That can seem trite, and it’s hard to explain. I certainly don’t have the expectation that politicians or anyone else will always tell me the truth. Perhaps I can get closer to the feeling Trump gives me by using an analogy.

    If you’ve ever witnessed some one, say a child, make a bad mistake that you know will cause them difficulties and you’ve felt a pang of empathetic regret on their behalf, that’s the closest thing I can find to the nauseous feeling I get when listening to Trump lie.

    The difference is that we normally get that feeling when we feel like the person has made an innocent error or that we sense that consequences will be far out of proportion to the actual sin. We may feel like wrapping that person in a protective blanket even if we recognize that they are largely responsible for making the bed they will now lie in.

    And if we sense that we’re helpless to shield them from the consequences of their actions, we make get the sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach that I’m trying to describe.

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    The 8 Craziest Moments Of Trump’s Impromptu Press Conference
    ByALLEGRA KIRKLAND
    Published FEBRUARY 16, 2017, 3:15 PM EDT

    In a hastily-called Thursday press conference carried live on national TV, President Donald Trump was completely off the map.

    ………………………………………………….

    In short, it was a doozy.

    TPM gathered the 8 most jaw-dropping moments below.

    1. “Russia Is Fake News” Pressed by multiple reporters to address reports that members of his campaign staff repeatedly contacted Russian officials prior to the election, Trump said Russia is “fake news put out by the media.”

    2. “This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine” Despite the botched execution of his immigration executive order, weeks of damaging leaks, the three-week long tenure of his national security adviser, and countless other damaging stories, the President repeatedly asserted that his White House was running smoothly.

    3. “The leaks are absolutely real; the news is fake” Trump said that the leaks about his private phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia were “illegal” and allowing people to find out “exactly what took place.” Yet he also repeatedly claimed that the news reports based on those leaks is “fake, because so much of the news is fake.”

    4. “I’m not ranting and raving” The President predicted that the press would criticize his Thursday news conference and that the headlines would describe him “ranting and raving” even though he was actually “having a good time.”

    5. “Nuclear holocaust would be like no other” In one particularly off-the-wall aside, Trump noted that both Russia and the U.S. are “very powerful” nuclear countries and that friendly relations between the two nations are a positive because his security briefings have taught him that “nuclear holocaust would be like no other.”

    6. “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you have seen in your entire life” Trump accused a Jewish reporter who asked how his administration planned to address anti-Semitic threats of being unfriendly, told him to be “quiet,” and said he found his question “repulsive.”

    7. “The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship” Trump claimed that the American people would think it was “so great” if he ordered an attack on the Russian spy ship reportedly loitering off the coast of Connecticut but that he wouldn’t because he wanted to try to preserve U.S.-Russian relations.

    8. “Are they friends of yours?” Questioned by April Ryan, a veteran reporter for American Urban Radio Networks, on whether he would include the Congressional Black Caucus in his plans to revitalize black urban neighborhoods, Trump replied, “Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting.”

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 1:23 pm

    Level of strong disapproval for Trump already surpasses strong disapproval for Obama at any point during his 8 years https://t.co/uA6blIQiyY

    — Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 16, 2017

    Reply
  33. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 1:00 pm

    This cretin is FUCKED UP. Haven’t spoken to anyone in Russia in years, and then said he spoke to Putin after he won election and after inauguration.

    Reply
  34. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Don’t let the orange #45 distract us from RUSSIA at this FAKE press conference where he is attacking media, paper, journos, and rambling on and on about leaks and criminals.

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    Why Trump’s Wall Won’t Keep Out Heroin
    By SAM QUINONES
    FEB. 16, 2017

    SINALOA, Mexico — Not long ago I met a small-time rancher here in the birthplace of Mexican drug trafficking.

    I asked him if he ever made it to the United States. He said he had been deported several years ago and couldn’t return. He was caught smuggling black-tar heroin in his shoes at the Tijuana-San Diego border crossing, he said. Wasn’t much — not quite a kilo. He did this to raise the money to buy a couple of cows, or a tractor.

    In Sinaloa, he said, cobblers do a thriving side business cutting compartments in the soles and heels of shoes and filling them with heroin. There’s a market for this work because so many farmers and ranchers — conservative folks, respectful of tradition — subsidize their small-time agriculture with drug money.

    ……………………………..

    Walls, in fact, have been shown to stop people. Illegal crossing has all but ceased in Tijuana because of two walls, including one that starts in the Pacific Ocean and runs for more than 14 miles before hitting a mountain.

    But walls have not stopped drugs, especially heroin. It is the easiest drug to traffic in small batches across a border because it is so easily condensed — and easy to cut later. The rancher from Sinaloa told me he put a little more than a pound and a half of heroin in those shoes, clearing as much as $12,000 in a single trip to the States. You could never fit enough cocaine, meth or marijuana into a shoe to make it worth the risk. “They’re too voluminous,” he told me.

    Larger Mexican drug operations, of course, ship bigger quantities hidden in trucks, particularly for long-distance hauls to the East Coast. The United States cannot check every one of the millions of trucks that cross north every year.

    ……………………..

    A lot of heroin trafficking happens a kilo or two at a time. Other ranchers told me they used hollow hammers, toothpaste tubes, a woman’s hair, backpacks or the carburetor of a truck. No wall stops that kind of trafficking. It probably won’t stop trafficking in fentanyl, either, the synthetic opioid vastly more potent than heroin.

    Reply
  36. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 12:37 pm

    Trump Is Proving to Be the Embodiment of Everything Republicans Have Stood For
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 13, 2017 4:08 PM

    During the presidential campaign, there were those who thought that a Trump presidency would be at odds with Republicans on some issues. So far we’re seeing no signs of that.

    He promised to “drain the swamp” and has filled it with the rich and powerful on Wall Street. He talked about creating jobs with a big infrastructure program, which doesn’t appear anywhere on the horizon right now. And he pretended to be isolationist in his foreign policy, but seems to be relying on Steve Bannon for advice – someone who is not only intent on igniting a global war on Islam, but is rumored to believe the United States is headed toward an inevitable confrontation with China and Iran. When it comes to Trump’s National Security Council, the NYT goes on to report that “Many of the first ideas that have been floated have involved military, rather than diplomatic, initiatives.”

    That reality is undergirded with something Paul Krugman wrote today. Putting it in today’s parlance, it amounts to the idea that ignorance is a feature, not a bug.

    Competent lawyers might tell you that your Muslim ban is unconstitutional; competent scientists that climate change is real; competent economists that tax cuts don’t pay for themselves; competent voting experts that there weren’t millions of illegal ballots; competent diplomats that the Iran deal makes sense, and Putin is not your friend. So competence must be excluded.

    I would make one distinction that Krugman didn’t. While the Trump administration has shown a remarkable level of incompetence, what we’re talking about is ignorance – which is one of the things that leads to incompetence. It is the embrace of the two that led me to write about the death of pragmatism.

    The exclusion of knowledge and competence is something Republicans have embraced for quite a while now – as is demonstrated by the fact that Krugman’s list pre-dates Trump.

    Reply
  37. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    #45 presser is total NONSENSE. Rambling about “leaks are real, news is fake.”

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 12:33 pm

    Who Is Guarding the Guardians?
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 16, 2017 11:16 AM

    …………………………………………………….

    These three examples demonstrate why the current activities of ICE are so chilling. They have targeted a person who was cooperating with law enforcement, a vulnerable young person who should be protected by DACA and a victim of domestic violence. That is why Linda Greenhouse asks, “Who Will Watch the Agents Who Are Watching Our Borders?”

    That uncomfortable question came to mind as I read articles over the past week of the growing numbers of raids, roundups, the knocks on the door, the flooding of “target-rich environments,” a phrase an anonymous immigration official used in speaking to The Washington Post. What’s a target-rich environment? “Big cities,” the official explained, “tend to have a lot of illegal immigrants.”

    Clearly, with President Trump’s executive orders having expanded the category of immigrants deemed worth pursuing and deporting, the gloves are off…

    It matters because along with entrusting our immigration enforcers to keep us safe, in the president’s often-tweeted phrase, we also entrust them with the responsibility of treating unauthorized immigrants not as prey but as human beings entitled to dignity, even if only minimally to due process…

    The Roman poet Juvenal asked: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guardians? We need to ask that question now, urgently. I fear the answer.

    Reply
  41. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 11:38 am
    Reply
  43. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2017 at 11:06 am
    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 9:39 am

    I have written before:

    The ONE place in America that has NEVER forgotten Vlad’s former job as a Higher up in the KGB is LANGLEY.
    This isn’t a matter of the CIA believing that the President is Weak. They’ve lived through that. They know how to adjust to that.

    We have come to a point where the CIA believes that the President of the United States, and possibly more than one of his higher ups in the White House – are ASSETS OF A HOSTILE FOREIGN GOVERNMENT.

    Think on that.

    The White House May Be out of the Loop on Intelligence Information
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 16, 2017 9:32 AM

    …………………

    What might be of more concern than what the leakers tell the public about this administration is what our intelligence services are NOT telling the president. Today we learn this from the Wall Street Journal:

    U.S. intelligence officials have withheld sensitive intelligence from President Donald Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter.

    The officials’ decision to keep information from Trump underscores the deep mistrust that has developed between the intelligence community and the president over his team’s contacts with the Russian government, as well as the enmity he has shown toward U.S. spy agencies.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      February 16, 2017 at 10:46 am

      Um huh, Um huh don’t TRUST CHEETO, BANDITO!

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2017 at 5:13 pm

      “…The ONE place in America that has NEVER forgotten Vlad’s former job as a Higher up in the KGB is LANGLEY.
      This isn’t a matter of the CIA believing that the President is Weak. They’ve lived through that. They know how to adjust to that.

      We have come to a point where the CIA believes that the President of the United States, and possibly more than one of his higher ups in the White House – are ASSETS OF A HOSTILE FOREIGN GOVERNMENT…”

      Pretty much sums it up..

      Reply
  48. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 16, 2017 at 9:36 am

    If Trump goes down, Pence should as well. Both are illegitimate. We need a new election. This one has been tampered with. It’s not legitimate.

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 9:01 am

    Republicans Can’t Keep Their Promises on Obamacare
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 15, 2017 4:23 PM

    I wish I had a dollar for every article I’ve read about the angst Republicans are feeling in their attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare. I might not be rich, but at least I’d have enough for a nice dinner out.

    The latest of this genre comes from some folks at Politico. And you’ll never guess who the Republicans are starting to blame for their dilemma.

    Republicans have reached a gut check moment: After spending more than six years vowing to fix the flagging patient that is Obamacare, it’s the GOP’s own repeal effort that’s on life support.

    Undoing the health care law despised by conservatives seemed to be a straightforward proposition for the party after it won the White House and retained control of both chambers of Congress. Instead, Republicans are sniping over how much of the law to scrap, what to replace it with and when. At this moment, it’s far from a sure thing any plan could get through Congress…

    It may take a direct intervention from Trump to get the party’s warring factions in line.

    “It’s hard to see how this gets done unless the president says, ‘OK, let’s do it this way,’” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a key committee chairman on Obamacare.

    Yeah, the guy whose administration creates chaos out of everything it touches is going to save them. Puhleeze!

    For six years now the Republicans have been promising to repeal and replace Obamacare. Once they finally had the opportunity to make good on that promise, they heard from anxious/angry constituents about the prospect of losing their coverage. In response, they made another promise: that their replacement plan would be great and not cause any problems for those who were covered by Obamacare.

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:59 am

    National Review Doesn’t Care if Andrew Puzder Is a Wife-Beater
    by Martin Longman
    February 15, 2017 2:56 PM

    I’ll be honest. I don’t know quite what to make of the bizarre story that’s bubbling about Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Andrew Puzder, and his ex-wife Lisa Fierstein. Washington Monthly contributing editor Timothy Noah has an excellent piece on the matter in Politico, and I recommend that you read the whole thing.

    Here’s a taste:

    The ex-wife of President Donald Trump’s labor secretary nominee told “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that he “vowed revenge” when she made public spousal abuse allegations, according to a 1990 tape reviewed by POLITICO on Tuesday night…

    …During the episode, titled “High Class Battered Women,” Lisa Fierstein, Puzder’s ex-wife, said he told her, “’I will see you in the gutter. This will never be over. You will pay for this.” Fierstein also said she called the police on him.

    Fierstein divorced Puzder in 1987. Eight months after appearing on “Oprah,” she retracted her allegations of domestic abuse as part of a child custody agreement. She said repeatedly thereafter that the allegations were a tactic to gain leverage in her divorce

    .

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:38 am

    Right Wing Media on the Bannon vs Priebus Power Struggle
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    February 15, 2017 12:37 PM

    While most of us are focused on what the Michael Flynn story and subsequent leaks tell us about the relationship between the Trump campaign and Russia’s interference in the election, Trump’s supporters in the right wing media are consumed with a whole different story.

    As an example, take a look at the spin on this opening of an article at Breitbart by Matthew Boyle.

    After GOP establishment forces inside President Donald Trump’s White House forced out National Security Adviser retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, sources close to the president confirm to Breitbart News there is serious doubt as to whether this early administration shake-up will also see the exit of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

    Notice that while the rest of the world is examining how the intelligence community seems to be targeting members of the Trump administration, Boyle simply assumes as fact that the “GOP establishment forces” are responsible for the ouster of Flynn. In a publication that has strong ties to Bannon, his name is never mentioned in the article. But it goes on to lay out the case for how Reince Priebus has failed the president and is responsible for everything from the delay in confirming Sessions to Obama “sleeper cells” all over the government who are sabotaging this administration.

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:26 am

    White House struggles to keep its story straight on Michael Flynn
    02/16/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 02/16/17 08:05 AM
    By Steve Benen

    On Monday afternoon, the White House was dismissive of the controversy surrounding then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, insisting that Donald Trump still has “full confidence” in Flynn. A few hours later, Trump World reversed course, saying the president was actually “evaluating the situation” surrounding the controversial NSA.

    On Tuesday afternoon, following Flynn’s resignation, the White House line changed again, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer telling reporters that the president forced Flynn out because Trump could no longer trust his National Security Advisor.

    Yesterday, Trump publicly addressed the Flynn scandal for the first time this week, and changed the White House’s position once more. From a brief press conference:

    Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:24 am

    Some intelligence officials don’t trust Trump with sensitive info
    02/16/17 08:41 AM—UPDATED 02/16/17 08:52 AM
    By Steve Benen

    The day after his inauguration, less than 24 hours into his presidency, Donald Trump traveled to Langley to deliver an odd, rambling speech to the Central Intelligence Agency. Early on in his remarks, the new president made a point to explain why he was there.

    “The reason you’re my first stop is that, as you know, I have a running war with the media,” Trump said. “They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you’re the number-one stop is exactly the opposite – exactly.”

    In reality, of course, Trump’s feud with the intelligence community wasn’t a media creation; it was a real problem that the Republican created, seemingly on purpose, over the course of many months. Trump, before and after the election, publicly attacked the intelligence community’s integrity, accuracy, and reliability in unprecedented ways.

    If this Wall Street Journal report is any indication, it’s safe to assume intelligence professionals noticed.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2017 at 5:39 pm

      The idea that he and the vile racist nutcases that surround him not only have access to sensitive classified information about everything and everyone, but get to make the call on how, when, what they use it for, is what has always bugged me the most …

      Classified information about any number of things and people – in the hands of a petty, ignorant, small, jealous, anti-intellectual, un-curious, vindictive, egotistic/ego-fragile, self-impressed, power-drunk, desperate to be liked, offended, depressed, humiliated and furious when shunned or mocked, tantrum-throwing, megalomaniac, racist narcissist…and the soulless, vile, evil, controlling, power-obsessed, white supremacist sociopaths that surround, flatter and ‘guide’ him…

      That’s not just a recipe for the worst disaster beyond any imagination, but a nuclear arsenal triggered without even a one-second delay..

      Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 8:22 am

    The Anti-Power Couple: Duro Olowu and Thelma Golden
    By LAUREN INDVIK
    JUNE 24, 2016

    LONDON — Before Thelma Golden, chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, met her future husband, the London-based designer Duro Olowu, she had been on a Barneys waiting list for one of his dresses for months.

    The two were introduced at a Target party on a hot summer evening in New York in 2006 — so hot that Mr. Olowu nearly didn’t attend. Fortunately for both parties, Kim Hastreiter, the co-editor of Paper magazine and one of the party’s hosts, insisted he come.

    When he arrived, “Thelma sees me and comes up, and she goes into this whole thing about my clothes, and I think, ‘Who is this beautiful little thing?’” he recalled recently at the Camden Arts Center, where he was putting the finishing touches on his third art show, “Making & Unmaking.”

    Mr. Olowu, a native of Nigeria, earns his living as a fashion designer, but he is also an enthusiastic collector of vintage textiles and contemporary art, and has been dabbling in curation since 2012, organizing two shows at Salon 94 in New York.

    Continue reading the main story

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    Continue reading the main story
    “She said: ‘I’ve been trying to get pieces of your work, but they’re always sold out. I left a message six months ago, and no one called me back,’” he said. “Of course, I got back to London and it said she called. I owe it all to Kim Hastreiter, who I now call my yenta.”

    They married quietly at City Hall less than two years later, Ms. Hastreiter and the artist Glenn Ligon their only witnesses.

    The oft-photographed Ms. Golden, who is also a board member of the Obama Foundation, and Mr. Olowu, who has dressed Michelle Obama and Solange Knowles, make an obvious — and very marketable — power couple.

    Yet unlike, say, the artists Rachel Feinstein and John Currin, or Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, it is not a power they wield easily, or even willingly.

    Mr. Olowu spends the better part of every month in London, where his studio and store are; Ms. Golden lives in New York. They refuse to give joint interviews to journalists, including this one, and despite numerous offers, they have never been officially photographed together for the glossy magazines desperate to get them into their pages.

    They do appear side by side at benefits and other high-profile events, including the state dinner in 2014 in honor of President François Hollande of France, where Ms. Golden was seated on President Obama’s left. But it was not until June 18 that they collaborated publicly for the first time.

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 7:59 am

    Found this at Balloon Juice:

    Good morning, all Ever consider getting training as a grassroots organizer? I have just the program for you! You can sign up here for training as an OFA Community Engagement Fellow. Deadline for application is Feb. 20.

    The program consists of an in-person Orientation Meeting on March 4, followed by Wednesday evening webinars for six weeks. You and your fellow Fellows will organize an event – such as a speaker series or community project – together, putting the theory you’ve learned into practice.

    These training groups of six to ten people are forming all across the U.S. I’m flying to Chicago tomorrow for training to lead one of these groups. As the OFA promo page says, Don’t miss this opportunity to turn your passion into action—join the Community Engagement Fellowship.

    Thus ends your morning PSA.

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2017 at 7:52 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply

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