Thursday Open Thread

Posted on November 15, 2018 by rikyrah

OUR FLOTUS!

Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming was poised to become a bestseller even before it hit bookstores on Tuesday. Barnes & Noble announced in a press release on Monday that Becoming had received the most pre-order sales of any adult book since Harper Lee’s 2015 novel Go Set a Watchman, which went on to have the largest first-day sales in the company’s history. As of Wednesday morning, Becoming was the bestselling book on Amazon.com.

Series of interviews with First Lady Michelle Obama

HAT TIP-Rikyrah

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46 Responses to Thursday Open Thread

  1. eliihass says:
    November 15, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    Thank you so much Ametia, for this wonderful post about our magnificent FLOTUS’ beautiful memoir.. Can’t wait to settle in and watch all the interviews ..

    I’ve been away traveling for work in Europe …completely jet-lagged, but happy to be home..

    I’d pre-ordered copies of this for myself and as gifts – everyone I know will be getting a copy..

    I’m not an audio-book kinda girl, I love books.. holding, turning pages and smelling them …but exhausted after long meetings 2 nights ago, immediately the book was released, I ordered up dinner in my hotel room, downloaded the book on audible – as I simply couldn’t wait to get back to the States to my pre-ordered copies.. And listened for 5 plus hours straight… I had just about 3 hours sleep before I had to be up and out to meetings again, but it was so worth the loss of sleep .. And I couldn’t wait to get back to listening.. It was funny and thrilling when I mentioned at the business dinner the next evening, that I’d rather be back at my hotel warmly tucked in and finishing up the book on audible – I had about 12 plus hours to go …And 2 others in our dinner party of 5 were also reading the book! The one Swiss lady actually found out her husband got them tickets to the sold-out Paris leg of our FLOTUS’ book tour, and she’s over the moon..

    I have several more hours to go, but I will give a detailed review… I have so much to say about it..

    Listening to her read it in her voice on audible, has only made the book even more beautiful …she makes it comes to life in the most compellingly powerful way… so vivid.. so mind-tuggingly, heartbreakingly beautiful..

    I’ve cried and I’ve laughed out loud.. and had so many different emotions as I’ve listened..

    I can’t recommend it enough..

    Even if you have the book, get the audio too.. it’s a must..

    Reply
  3. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    November 15, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    “California recommends restrictions for popular pesticide”
    https://apnews.com/5685ee8ac21644959425f3080dbe4617?utm_medium=APWestRegion&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

    “LOS ANGELES (AP) — California regulators recommended new restrictions Thursday on a widely used pesticide blamed for harming the brains of babies.

    “The Department of Pesticide Regulation issued temporary guidelines for chlorpyrifos that include banning it from crop dusting, discontinuing its use on most crops and increasing perimeters around where it’s applied.

    “The DowDuPont pesticide currently used on about 60 different crops — including grapes, almonds and oranges — has increasingly come under fire from regulators, lawmakers and courts…

    “The pesticide is in a class of organophosphates chemically similar to a nerve gas developed by Nazi Germany before World War II. Its heavy use has often left traces in drinking water sources. A University of California at Berkeley study in 2012 found that 87 percent of umbilical-cord blood samples tested from newborn babies contained detectable levels of the pesticide.”

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    Dear White People: Please Get the Fuck Out of Michelle Obama’s Pockets

    Damon Young

    There is, I believe, a conversation that could be had about an unease we (black people) might have with the Obamas’ post-White House relationship with money. And not just with money as a tangible object, but in surrounding themselves with it and being ensconced in markers and signifiers of it. The word “Obama” has crossed the threshold from surname to luxury brand—with more cultural cache than Off-White or Balenciaga—where a mere association with the name is enough to crack open rich white people’s piggy banks. And with this new reality—and considering the context of who they are and who we are and who we wanted/needed them to be—I don’t think it’s wrong to possess an ambivalence about how they’re cashing in.

    Buuuuuuuut, whenever that feeling hits me, that perhaps the mid-eight-figure book deals and the $500,000 a plate speeches at brunch on Mars are a little gauche, I’m reminded of the night Barack Obama was elected president. And I remember how anxious I felt during his acceptance speech, fearing that both him and Michelle would be assassinated during it, and I remember how that feeling persisted throughout his presidency. And then I remember America’s reaction to the fucking Beer Summit. And then I remember Joe Wilson screaming “You lie!” at him. And then I remember all of the venom hurled at them, and how the disrespect of them was so ubiquitous that it became sentient, weaponizing into political movements and successful presidential campaigns. And then I think about how they must have felt through all of this. And how they must feel right now when knowing that the America they love so much hates them enough to elect Donald Trump president of it. And when these memories occur, the ambivalence begins to temper, as I’m possessed with the want for them to bleed this entire fucking country dry. If they don’t deserve the opportunity to turn that white-hot bullseye into a book advance, then who the fuck does?

    And with that, I would like to tell Maureen Callahan of the New York Post and any other white person making money by counting the Obamas’ money to back the fuck up, get the fuck out of their pockets, and sit the fuck down. Save your self-righteousness for your Thanksgiving tables and your Patagonia clearance racks. They don’t owe you shit. And don’t pretend to care about what they might owe “the poorest of today’s Chicago” when the only shits you give about poor people or black people are when using them and us as shame-delivery devices.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      November 15, 2018 at 4:20 pm

      #MAKE.THAT.MONEY.BARACK&mICHELLE.OBAMA!

      MAKE IT$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        November 15, 2018 at 10:53 pm

        The idea that what has always been a rite of passage for every former president and First Lady – writing memoirs, making paid speeches and appearances, is somehow now a problem …and even now seen as ‘gauche’ – and only because the Obamas are more popular and beloved, more in demand, and are commanding 1000X more audiences and consequently, being offered more for their appearances –

        They aren’t demanding or strong-arming fees out of people, instead, they are being happily offered these higher fees because event organizers who are making a ton of money, know that the Obamas are the most sought-after keynotes and headliners for their events internationally.. they are on every event organizers wishlist .. and tickets to their events are selling out like hot cakes..

        Why are the Obamas – who are putting much of their ethically earned monies into their presidential library and their family foundation for great causes that’ll do so much good here and around the world …why are they being slated because they are more beloved and are being offered more than their boring predecessors..

        Their foundation won’t pay for itself – and the same spiteful, envious folks minding the Obamas’ business will be first to finger-wag if the Obamas took money from questionable sources like the Saudis, Russian oligarchs, 3rd world despots …

        If the Obamas don’t take the money that they’ve rightfully earned from their brilliantly written books and their highly popular speaking gigs, the money they’re actively investing in so many planned phenomenal causes and the staff/team working for them …someone else will..

        Same folks busy rifling through the Obamas contracts and bank statements, are the same folk who ignore the grifting treasonous buffoon and his kkklan, brazenly And outrightly plundering like a 3rd world despot.. Same folks who will once again positively cheer and spin as ‘genius’ if the buffoon and kkklan are ever able to secure book deals or speaking gigs …none of which will ever go to a honorable causes, or any cause outside of self..

        Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    Kay
    says:
    November 15, 2018 at 8:47 am
    @rikyrah:
    I feel like Abrams and Beto and Gillum were an earthquake. It changes things. They put together a group of voters who can win in some places Democrats haven’t even considered. In my mind they won the argument w/in the Democratic Party fair and square and they should be ascendant

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    I am more than furious at these muthaphuckas trying to mess with Nancy Smash.

    They are losers who have no coattails in the Democratic Party.

    Kay over at Balloon Juice crystallized this morning why Beto, Abrams and Gillum were such monumental game changers, and why the bitter MITCH Crew coming after Nancy Smash are all in their feeling:

    IMO he has a chip on his shoulder because his brand of Democrat is in decline. He’ll have less power going forward for a REALLY practical reason- he didn’t get white working class men to swing towards Democrats. That’s what that faction of the Party had to do and they failed. They didn’t deliver voters. They can’t just insist that Democrats chase white working class men- they have to show they can get them. They haven’t done that

    There’s really two camps- the group that says they can and should chase Trump voters and the group that says if they do that they’ll have to diss their own base- the actual base- the one that comes out for them. The second group won the midterms so they’re ascendant (rightfully so- they won). In my view Pelosi’s brand of Democrat – diverse, better educated, more female, more urban and suburban- won and so she should remain leader. She better represents the actual base of the Party than Tim Ryan does.

    I’m gonna say it again about our new candidates and their coattails as opposed to those chasing the WWC voter.

    They have no coattails.

    Sure, Sherrod Brown won in Ohio…and, that couldn’t help bring Cordray, a far better candidate, over the hump?

    Do you think that we would have Lucy McBath…or the guy running for Secretary of State in a runoff, or the other Congressional district in a Runoff would be there without Stacey Abrams running?
    Puleeze.

    and, do I even need to get into Beto’s coattails….
    THE.ENTIRE.JUDICIARY.IN.TEXAS.CHANGED.OVERNIGHT.BECAUSE.OF.BETO’S.COATTAILS.

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    Clap clap clap

    Nancy Pelosi is Without Equal

    There is lots of chatter on the intertubes about five white guys in the Democratic caucus raising all kinds of hell to try to make sure Democrats do not pick Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    The five white guys – who as usual get play as Serious Players (TM) on every channel – are CongressMEN Tim Ryan (OH-13), Seth Moulton (MA-6), Ed Perlmutter (CO-7), Kurt Shcrader (OR-5), and Bill Foster (IL-11). While there are a little over a dozen incoming Democratic members of the House who have said they will not vote for Pelosi to be Speaker either, the difference between them and these five white guys is both inside politics and intriguing: now that Democrats will control the House, the new Democratic majority will vote twice on Speaker: first, within the Democratic caucus to determine who the party will nominate for Speaker. There is absolutely no doubt that Pelosi will win this vote.

    Once the party sends her nomination to the floor of the House, however, the entire House will vote on the choice of Speaker, and Pelosi will need 218 votes to become Speaker. At the current election projections, that means she can afford to lose fewer than 20 or so Democratic votes, assuming that no Republican will vote for her (although Donald Trump of all people opened the door to that possibility). It is fairly common for caucus members to vote for their first choice in the caucus vote but still back the party’s candidate on the floor of the House.

    This is where these five white guys are creating an insidious trail. They are promising to, and pushing their colleagues to, vote against Pelosi on the floor of the House even if she wins the support of her caucus in a vote. They lack an alternative to Pelosi, but are promising to throw the process into chaos, demanding that they, as a small, fringe minority within the party be allowed to dictate its leadership, and create a dysfunctional House that cannot save health care or conduct the oversight so badly needed.

    Let’s be clear. They cannot come up with a challenger against Nancy Pelosi for one simple reason.

    Nancy Pelosi has no equal.

    Reply
  19. Ametia says:
    November 15, 2018 at 9:42 am

    Great QUESTION

    Reply
  20. Ametia says:
    November 15, 2018 at 9:27 am

    Word of the Day : November 15, 2018

    Memento: noun muh-MEN-toh

    Definition: something that serves to warn or remind; also : souvenir

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/memento-2018-11-15?pronunciation&lang=en_us&dir=m&file=mement02&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=wotd&utm_content=pron

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      November 15, 2018 at 2:17 pm

      DEVILS

      Reply
    • majiir says:
      November 15, 2018 at 9:37 pm

      The Daily Beast also tied them to Richard Spencer, but when the DB journalist contacted Spencer, Spencer decided he didn’t want to comment. The DB had pics of them with Spencer at the UTR rally in Charlottesville. The outlet also has pics of them at Charlottesville with James Fields, Jr. who murdered Heather Heyer. Spencer and others on the so-called alt-right should take credit for spreading their vile hatred and radicalism, but after one of their own is identified, they turn into the biggest cowards in the U.S. If they radicalized these males, they should own it.

      Reply
  26. vitaminlover says:
    November 15, 2018 at 6:45 am

    She’s soooooo pretty!

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 6:29 am

    Do you know that she also has merchandise! !
    Yes, Forever FLOTUS get all those coins!

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 6:27 am

    I can’t wait to get my copy.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    November 15, 2018 at 6:06 am

    Good Morning , Everyone 😆 😆 😊

    Reply

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