Thursday Open Thread | Michelle Obama reveals what Melania Trump gave her on Inauguration Day

Posted on February 1, 2018 by SouthernGirl2

Michelle Obama has finally revealed what was in that blue Tiffany’s box that Melania Trump gave her on Inauguration Day last year.

“It was a lovely frame,” Obama shared with Ellen DeGeneres on her first appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” since leaving the White House.

When Trump presented the former first lady with the square box, it made for a bit of an awkward moment, with Obama looking uncertain about what to do with it.

In a preview clip from an upcoming show, posted by Entertainment Weekly, DeGeneres rolled footage while Obama explained what happened.

“There is all this protocol,” she explained on the show, which will air Thursday. “I mean, this is like a state visit so they tell you, ‘You’re gonna do this, they’re gonna stand here.’ Never before do you get this gift, so I’m sort of like, ‘OK, where … what am I supposed to do with this gift?'”

As the audience laughed, she added, “everyone cleared out and no one would come and take the box.”

That’s when her husband, former President Barack Obama, came to the rescue.

“I’m thinking, ‘Do we take the picture?’ And then my husband saved the day,” she said. “He grabbed the box and took it back inside. But everybody cleared out — no staff, no one. I was like, ‘What do you do with the box?'”

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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58 Responses to Thursday Open Thread | Michelle Obama reveals what Melania Trump gave her on Inauguration Day

  2. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 2:13 pm

    India Wants to Give Half a Billion People Free Health Care
    By VINDU GOEL and HARI KUMAR
    FEB. 1, 2018

    NEW DELHI — India announced on Thursday a sweeping plan to give half a billion poor Indians free access to health care, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to address rising demands for greater economic and social protections before national elections next year.

    The move is sure to be popular in a country where most people have no health insurance and the per capita income is a few dollars a day. Although India’s overall economy is growing, Mr. Modi and his governing Bharatiya Janata Party have been trying to find ways to court the population left behind.

    “In poor people’s lives, one big worry is how to treat illness,” Mr. Modi tweeted in Hindi after the plan was announced. The new program, he said, “will free poor people from this big worry.”

    The health care plan, part of the government’s 2018-19 budget presented on Thursday, would offer 100 million families up to 500,000 rupees, or about $7,860, of coverage each year. That sum, while small by Western standards, would be enough to cover the equivalent of five heart surgeries in India. Officials did not outline eligibility requirements, and many details of the program have yet to be finalized.

    India’s finance minister, Arun Jaitley, said in a speech to Parliament that the plan would cover more people than any other government-funded health care program in the world. In addition to the direct health benefits, he said, the program would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

    India’s government spent just 1.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product on health care in 2014, little changed as a proportion of the economy in 20 years, according to the World Bank. China, by contrast, spent 3.1 percent of its G.D.P. on health care in 2014; the United States spent 8.3 percent in the same year.

    Reply
  3. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    February 1, 2018 at 2:04 pm

    Here is a link to a page which offers suggestions for activities for creating empathy in children:
    https://startempathy.org

    Excerpt from http://rethinked.org/?p=7560

    “One of the most impactful ways to help children understand empathy is to model it ourselves in our interactions with them. It starts with listening and a genuine curiosity and openness to understanding each child’s point of view and experience. Which is exactly what Colorado teacher Kyle Schwartz does in her third grade classroom. Schwartz has been asking her students to finish the phrase, “I wish my teacher knew….” and after recently joining Twitter, she has been posting photographs of her students responses. The hashtag #IWishMyTeacherKnew is now being used by teachers everywhere. Here is a wonderful example of how easy and accessible it is to model and infuse empathy in the classroom. Bravo, Ms. Schwartz!”

    Here is a photo of Kyle Schwartz book:

    https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780738219141-us.jpg

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    What say you, Blackademics?

    Business
    Trump administration strips consumer watchdog office of enforcement powers in lending discrimination cases
    By Renae Merle February 1 at 12:54 PM

    The Trump administration has stripped enforcement powers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau office that specializes in pursuing cases against financial firms accused of breaking discrimination laws, according to two people familiar with the matter and emails reviewed by The Washington Post.

    The move comes about two months after President Trump installed his budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, at the head of an agency that has long been in the crosshairs of Republicans. The Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity had penalized lenders that it said had systematically imposed interest rates on minorities that were higher than those for whites.

    Now that office, which had been part a powerful CFPB division, will move inside the office of the director, where staffers will be focused on “advocacy, coordination and education,” according to an email Mulvaney sent them this week. They will no longer have responsibility for enforcement and day-to-day oversight of companies, he said.

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    Middle Aged White Soccer Dad Chaos Agent 🌹
    @BeauInMaryland
    1. Salena Zito wrote an intellectually dishonest, inaccurate, anti- everyone-but-rich-people column today. That, in itself, probably isn’t news. But it’s funny that she’s used the same exact same Trump supporter FOUR TIMES recently

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    Dem leaders call on Ryan to oust Nunes as Intel Committee chair
    02/01/18 12:49 PM—UPDATED 02/01/18 12:54 PM
    By Steve Benen

    Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post yesterday, condemning his panel’s chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), for pushing to release classified information, in a misleading way, for partisan political purposes. Nunes, Schiff wrote, has “crossed a dangerous line.”

    The question then turns to consequences. As CNBC reported, Democratic leaders this morning took their concerns to a new level.

    House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday demanding the removal of Rep. Devin Nunes as Intelligence Committee chairman, saying he has “disgraced” the committee with “dishonest” actions related to an ongoing probe of Russia and the Trump presidential election campaign. […]

    “It is long overdue that you, as Speaker, put an end to this charade and hold Congressman Nunes and all Congressional Republicans accountable to the oath they have taken to support and defend the Constitution, and protect the American people,” Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote Ryan, R-Wisc.

    “The integrity of the House is at stake,” she wrote.

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 12:15 pm

    Jennifer Freakin’ Rubin:

    If Democrats ever needed proof for the midterms that the GOP is a threat to national security and is unfit to govern, this should do it. The Republicans cannot with a straight face claim to be the party of national security while carrying on in such fashion. And even if a congressman in Iowa or Michigan were to say he played no part in Nunes’s conduct, his or her reelection by definition would help return Nunes to the intelligence committee chairmanship and Ryan to the speakership. In short, Democrats can argue that if you vote for anyone with an “R” after his or her name, you are voting to hobble the FBI, expose our secrets to our enemies and help Trump escape the consequences of possible wrongdoing. Talk about a winning message

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 12:13 pm

    Tale of 2 HBCUs: One enjoying a boom, one fending off doom
    Ernie Suggs Eric Stirgus The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    7:06 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 AJC Homepage

    Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, founded by Quakers in 1838, is the nation’s oldest historically black college.

    North Carolina A&T State, created in 1890 by an act of the state Legislature, is the nation’s largest historically black college.

    Both are public schools. But A&T is booming, and Cheyney is struggling. Enrollment at A&T now is nearing 12,000, and incoming freshmen have a GPA of 3.5. Enrollment at Cheyney declined more than 50 percent from 2010 to 2015, and the school’s accrediting agency has placed it on probation.

    Reply
  9. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2018 at 11:45 am

    Jim Messina to Ms Greenspan that this is likely Paul Ryan’s last year as Speaker.

    Nancy SMASH will likely take back the gavel.

    Reply
  10. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2018 at 11:44 am
    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 11:34 am

    John O. Brennan Retweeted Adam Schiff
    I had many fights with Congressional Dems over the years on national security matters. But I never witnessed the type of reckless partisan behavior I am now seeing from Nunes and House Republicans. Absence of moral and ethical leadership in WH is fueling this government crisis.

    Reply
  12. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2018 at 11:23 am
    Reply
  15. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2018 at 10:59 am

    HMMMMMMMMM
    HMMMMMMMMM

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 10:52 am

    #ThursdayThoughts #LangstonHughes, America’s great black #gay poet of the Harlem Renaissance, born on this day in 1902, published his first book at 22.

    He wrote:

    “Hold fast to dreams,
    for if dreams die,
    Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”#BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/NgZRTARt91

    — Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 10:52 am

    Beginning #BlackHistoryMonth honoring the author of that seminal work “The Mis-Education of the Negro.” Well done! https://t.co/pWdMBAgEoG

    — Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) February 1, 2018

    A #GoogleDoodle celebrating historian, author, and journalist Carter G. Woodson, considered the “father of black history.” Art by @shannondrewthis! #BlackHistoryMonth → https://t.co/7qLBJ9jWeT pic.twitter.com/1sAbQXxct8

    — Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  19. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2018 at 10:49 am
    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:51 am

    The likelihood that Hicks lied to Bobby Three Sticks?

    I’d say 10 on a scale of 10, folks.

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:45 am

    Like I said…the man worked for PROFESSIONAL Criminals…
    He’d recognize from a mile away, the type of criminals that get you put in jail

    ………………………………………………………………..

    When Mark Corallo left last summer, the spokesman told others he’d never worked any place that worked like that and had never seen people behave like he’d seen in the White House. And he was worried he wasn’t being told the truth. https://t.co/UeoWowvnJi

    — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 1, 2018

    To recap, Wolff reported Corallo resigned over concerns he’d witnessed an obstruction attempt.

    NYT corroborates what Corallo witnessed, reports he immediately told legal team AND Bannon.

    Wolff reported Bannon screamed at Hicks “You don’t know how much trouble you are in.”

    — Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) February 1, 2018

    Corollo: I hung up the phone, reported it to my boss, told 3 colleagues, wrote it all down and then quit my job in order to get away from it
    Hicks: nu uh. never happened.

    This is not he said/she said, folks. This was a person who took an oath realizing he had seen the enemy

    — Moira Whelan (@moira) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:43 am

    Betcha we learn Hope had reason to believe they could withhold the emails.

    Remember: Emails in CIA leak case went missing. It took years to find them.

    But then … Cheney was competent. pic.twitter.com/QyoPRvFvth

    — emptywheel (@emptywheel) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Republicans are helping Trump obstruct justice for the same reason they help him hide his tax returns.

    They assume he broke the law and they want to help him get away with it because it owns libs and/or they did too. https://t.co/tUQqfU0Xzi

    — LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:32 am

    LarryO’s show last night was pretty good.

    THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 1/31/18
    Rep. Schiff: Nunes altered approved memo before sending to…
    Intel Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff says in a tweet that GOP Chairman Devin Nunes changed the Republican memo critical of the FBI, after it was voted on but before it was sent to the White House. Lawrence O’Donnell is joined by a panel.

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:29 am

    ICYMI:

    They are putting out the fake Nunes Memo.
    And, even the fake Nunes Memo is even MORE fake, because, according to Schiff, Nunes changed the Memo, and it’s not the one that the GOP Member approved of.

    Also, Quigley of Illinois asked Nunes if his staff HAD HELP FROM THE WHITE HOUSE with the Memo, He refused to answer the question.

    So, they will be putting out a faked Memo, USING CLASSIFIED MATERIAL – that the FBI let them see UNDER THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT WOULD GO NO FURTHER THAN THE COMMITTEE.

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:22 am

    #Russia’s state TV:
    Chiefs of three Russian intelligence and espionage agencies (SVR, FSB, GRU) quietly traveled to Washington, unbeknownst to the mainstream media. Vyacheslav Nikonov says that info about their travels may have been leaked in retaliation for “The Kremlin List.” pic.twitter.com/sNQsDRK1Pe

    — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:20 am

    White House role in Nunes memo scrutinized

    Betsy Woodruff, politics reporter for The Daily Beast, talks with Rachel Maddow about questions about whether the staff of Devin Nunes worked with the White House on the anti-FBI memo, and how the memo has turned the Trump DoJ against Trump Republicans.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:19 am

    Nunes breach shocks intelligence community

    Ken Dilanian, national security reporter for NBC News, talks with Rachel Maddow about the FBI’s resistance to the Nunes memo, and new reporting from the New York Times about the Air Force One meeting to draft the cover story for Donald Trump Jr’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians.

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:18 am

    Russia spy chiefs met with Trump team in U.S.

    Rachel Maddow reports on yet another instance of Americans learning about a meeting between Russians and Trump officials from reporting in Russian media. In this case Russia intelligence officials violating sanctions law to come to the U.S.

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:17 am

    FBI warns against Trump release of Nunes memo

    Rachel Maddow details the lengths to which FBI and DoJ officials have gone to warn Republicans against releasing a memo of classified information assembled by Devin Nunes, and a new report of Donald Trump pressuring officials with questions about loyalty.

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:16 am

    “…but Hope Hicks is only 28.”

    America: a country where black kids are tried as adults and white adults are treated like kids.

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 8:14 am

    Somebody on another blog posted that they hoped that Rosenstein was wearing a wire. I do too.

    Trump’s loyalty demands pose key test for Justice Department
    02/01/18 08:00 AM
    By Steve Benen

    When Donald Trump met privately with then-FBI Director James Comey the week after the president’s inauguration, he reportedly told Comey, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

    About four months later, after having fired Comey in the hopes of undermining an ongoing federal investigation, the president met privately with then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. After exchanging pleasantries, Trump had a question for the bureau leader: Whom did he vote for in the 2016 election? (McCabe found the interaction “disturbing.”)

    And six months after that, according to reports from CNN, ABC News, and the New York Times, the Republican president had a related question for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

    Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking President Donald Trump’s help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump’s support in fighting off document demands from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes.

    But the President had other priorities ahead of a key appearance by Rosenstein on the Hill, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Trump wanted to know where the special counsel’s Russia investigation was heading. And he wanted to know whether Rosenstein was “on my team.”

    Reply
  35. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 7:51 am

    You know, watching the shows reporting on the latest in the Russia probe, watching Whiteness work. The bending over backwards to ‘interpret’ what Hope Hicks said. Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Casting her as ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’. Watching this knowing full well that nobody non-White would be given this consideration, time and time again.

    Reply
  36. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    February 1, 2018 at 7:46 am

    ” Asylum seeker says Border Patrol assaulted her, then she miscarried”
    http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-border-miscarriage-20180119-story.html?utm_source=Migratory+Notes+Pop-Up+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8124d4844b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_084466b101-8124d4844b-447648329
    Excerpt:

    “A woman seeking asylum from El Salvador said she miscarried her two-month pregnancy after being physically and mentally abused by immigration officials.

    Rubia Mabel Morales Alfaro, 28, said she was shoved to the ground and kicked in the back by a Border Patrol agent who arrested her for crossing the border illegally near Friendship Park. She said she told the agent of her pregnancy before the alleged assault.

    “I kept telling her that I was pregnant, and she kept replying, ‘That is your problem, not mine,’” Morales Alfaro said in a statement provided by her legal representative, Luis Guerra.

    Morales Alfaro came to the border on the evening of Dec. 22, the statement says, with her husband, who was also caught by Border Patrol.

    Her statement says agents yelled at her and mocked her while she was in their custody.

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 7:46 am

    The sourcing in here is something else. All the rats are jumping off the ship. https://t.co/RY7mXXvhnU

    — Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 1, 2018

    Note: Corallo was a spokesman for Trump’s legal team. He was not Trump’s attorney.

    Corallo allegedly quit after the infamous flight where Trump dictated Jr’s false statement about the Trump Tower-Russia meeting fearing he was witnessing obstruction of justice. https://t.co/iZkn0C3izw

    — The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) January 31, 2018

    Now, this is someone who worked for the Bush Crime Family and Scooter Libby. He knows crimes when he sees them, and said, ‘I’m out.’

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 7:43 am

    Former member of Trump legal team to tell Special Counsel In Russia investigation of obstruction concerns stemming from previously undisclosed phone call with POTUS on the line. Read our @NYTimes exclusive here: https://t.co/TmU3A3aHHp

    — Jo Becker (@Jo_Becker) February 1, 2018

    Reply
  39. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 7:41 am

    Carter G Woodson is today’s Google Doodle.

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 6:35 am

    I’m doing my own Countdown Clock
    15 days until Wakanda

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 6:33 am

    We miss you, Forever FLOTUS 😍😍

    Reply
  42. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2018 at 6:33 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply
  43. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    February 1, 2018 at 6:10 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Wishing all of you a wonderful day :)

    Reply

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