The town hall will be livestreamed on https://t.co/4x2XN7l80t at 5 pm ET. President Obama will be joined by police reform activists and public figures, including former Attorney General Eric Holder. https://t.co/u4u48svHsX
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 3, 2020
I, for one, welcome the calm voice of reason to help soothe a hurting nation.
The fact that it’s gonna make someone’s head explode, well that’s just extra butter on my popcorn. (Okay, LOTS of someones)
Tune in. 5 pm eastern, Obama.org
And yes, I know I just stomped on everyone, but it seems to be a theme this week. My apologies to everyone I squished with my bigfoot, but this seemed like a day brightener and we need every one we can get these days.
Open thread
ETA: Okay everyone, I have the livestream set up for 4:50 pm EDT. It is a youtube link.
SiubhanDuinne
It’s Bigfoots all the way down!
cain
Thank you, Obama – for providing a voice of calm, compassion, and reason. We’ve been bereft of your leadership for too long already.
Without having to be president I’m hoping we don’t have things like beer summit – some real conversations around police and prison reform.
SiubhanDuinne
And thank you for the link. I know what I’ll be doing in 4 hours and 47 minutes.
Baud
C’mon, Tom. You’re up next on the stomp-o-matic.
The Moar You Know
Good. I hope Trump’s head fucking explodes.
Amir Khalid
Will this be on YouTube?
eric
I wonder if the current president will do one? admittedly, the time difference in moscow makes it more challenging.
Bruuuuce
Forget the popcorn. Go get a gallon of Ben & Jerry’s. After their statement (We Must Dismantle White Supremacy/Silence Is Not An Option) I, a diabetic, am ready to nom it all down to support them. (Good to see they can still say this stuff even after being bought by Unilever those years ago.)
Joy in FL
I have a meeting at 5 that I can’t really move : (
I assume the talk will be available after it’s live. I really want to hear and see it.
Thanks for the info.
TaMara (HFG)
@Amir Khalid: I would almost guess, that it will be a youtube stream or one available. I’ll keep an eye out
ETA: And I’d bet MSNBC and CNN will livestream it.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
It will be streamed at Obama.org. You might check now to see if you can access that site.
laura
Stomping at the Savoy should be a rotating tag this week. Each and every stomp has been worth it!
Leto
@SiubhanDuinne: was going to comment the same! Haha!
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Is YouTube the lowest common denominator of videos? The one you can see from all the way over there? :-)
Kelly
A Washington DC local news reporter with one of the “smoke” cartridges fired to clear the park for Trump’s church photo op. TLDR not smoke
https://twitter.com/NathanBacaTV/status/1267975548875268097
MagdaInBlack
@Bruuuuce:
It’s ok, I have us covered, 3 pints in the freezer ?
Jeffro
As I mentioned several (dozen) threads earlier this morning, Uncle Joe and President Obama can keep this up all summer, GOP. Twice a week like clockwork. How well will that work with voters exhausted by The Abuser, do you think?
PRETTY DAMN WELL.
Meanwhile, the president*s campaign is trying to argue that it wasn’t really ‘tear gas’ tear gas, you know, it was just gas. That produces tears.
How about one more article of impeachment just before the 4th, Congress? Take your pick of options and really twist the knife on these enabling scumbags.
Feathers
What I love is that being at 5pm, there will be time for Herr Scheissegibbon to have a tantrum, covered in comparison with Mr. Cool’s coolness.
I’m guessing they will also have a set of real demands for moving forward, that all the Dem candidates for downticket offices can adopt. One other good thing about the protests happening now is that there is probably still time to get on the ballot for local races in the fall.
Let’s get the wave sweeping all the way to the ocean floor.
MisterForkbeard
@SiubhanDuinne: Seriously. Maybe 3-4 bigfoots in the past hour. :)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Jeffro: Have you seen what one of the park police thugs did to an Aussie news team?
Aussie journalists brutally attacked
Leto
@Feathers: also gives the news networks plenty of time put together a highlight reel of an actual president addressing the nation.
Salty Sam
Stupid Libtards. They probably mislabeled “magazines” as “clips” too, so you can disregard whatever they say…
HumboldtBlue
MEET DESIREE BARNES, she’s a former aide of Michelle Obama.
JPL
@TaMara (HFG): For those of us who have lost all track of time, would you please put up a thread then.
HumboldtBlue
This is in Hyde Park.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MisterForkbeard: It’s been a busy morning here at Balloon Juice.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I predict Trump will stage some event at the same time. They’re frantically thinking up ideas right now. Maybe he can drive a tank, since that worked out well for Dukakis.
MattF
Looks like Dems have figured out that steadily increasing pressure is the way forward.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
He won’t. He doesn’t want people to compare the ratings.
Ohio Mom
I can’t wait to see and hear Obama, thanks for the heads up.
It was a well-established norm and custom that previous presidents laid low during whoever was the current president’s term — yet another norm Trump has upended. I’m glad GW went first, I think it is one of those only Nixon could go to China things.
Now how this shakes out when we are back to normal presidents…well, I think rhe current group of exes will behave, and hopefully Trump wil either be incarcerated or in hiding somewhere that we do not have an extradition agreement with.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
Yep, more or less.
cmorenc
@The Moar You Know:
During the 2016 post-election transition, Trump noisily stomped around as if he was already in charge, kicking dust in Obama’s face as he went. Now Obama gets a chance to cast serious shade at Trump, simply by demonstrating what a mature, serious, responsible President would do in this situation.
cmorenc
@The Moar You Know:
During the 2016 post-election transition, Trump noisily stomped around as if he was already in charge, kicking dust in Obama’s face as he went. Now Obama gets a chance to cast serious shade at Trump, simply by demonstrating what a mature, serious, responsible, well-informed President would do in this situation.
Central Planning
The other day my employer had an internal meeting with members of the executive team, as well as Bryan Stevenson from the Equal Justice Initiative and Darren Walker from the Ford Foundation.
The session was AWESOME. I could listen to Bryan and Darren all day. They had great insight into police culture and the need to change it (like Camden (as others have mentioned)), the history of racism and white supremacy, and thoughts on moving forward. I watched the replay it was so good, and it was even better the second time around.
My company also announced we’re giving millions of dollars to the Equal Justice Initiative, Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, and 2 other organizations I don’t remember. It’s great that there’s some action instead of platitudes and meaningless recitations of “support”.
Bruce K
@?BillinGlendaleCA: More to the point, it’s been a busy week this morning, and it’s been a busy year this week.
Jinchi
The real question is whether Trump will try to bigfoot Obama’s speech.
MelissaM
@Jeffro: To quote an old Army story from my brother: “Gas! Gas! Gas comin’ out of your ass!” Story goes they were training for gas and had to put on the masks and head up the hill when gas was yelled. After a bit, some wiseacre (probably my brother, but that’s not how he tells it, but then, it was told to family) yelled back at the sgt or whomever. When no one would fess up to having yelled it, he chose a section from which it came to head up the hill, with gas without masks.
Trump has gas comin out of his ass. Which is also his mouth.
HumboldtBlue
At a protest in Hoover now. Police in full military garb have shown up to deal with a handful of high school students with signs.
TriassicSands
It is (long past) time for the four living ex-presidents to unite, publicly condemn Trump, and call for his defeat. It is wrong for them to treat Trump as though he were a normal president, performing normal duties in a normal way. He’s a fascist who threatens the future of this country and he needs to be stopped. All four need to do much more.
HumboldtBlue
“Change comes when we organize for it, when we mobilize for it, and when we demand it.” — Rep. @AyannaPressley
JPL
https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett
Baud
@JPL:
How long is the program going to be?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Bruce K: Normally about 10am Pacific Time, I’ll see 3 posts; today there are 9.
HumboldtBlue
THIS! Literally just brought me to tears. This is so beautiful. Our Polynesian Brothers and Sisters doing their traditional Haka for Black Lives Matter in New Zealand.
Kelly
@Salty Sam:Remember it’s only Tear Gas if it comes from the Tear region of France. Otherwise it’s just a sparkling human rights violation.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Yes!
https://youtu.be/q_qB6SsErpA
JPL
@Baud: I don’t know.
Baud
@Kelly: Heh.
HumboldtBlue
For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, George Floyd cried out for his mama and begged to be able to breathe. Watch. Listen. Share. This is why we protest.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Check out the link at #46. It’s a Town Hall, and they list the speakers, etc.
HumboldtBlue
@Amir Khalid: A year since Klopp poured beer on Rhian Brewster’s head. My manager is something else
TaMara (HFG)
Okay, everyone, I have the livestream set up for 4:50 pm EDT. It is a youtube link.
TaMara (HFG)
@HumboldtBlue: That deserves to be embedded.
Geminid
I’m glad Eric Holder will be there. I wouldn’t mind seeing him take another turn as Attorney General. Whoever the A.G. is, I hope he or she brings back a lot of the Obama US District Attorneys, like Preet Bharara and Joyce Vance. They could hit the ground running.
JPL
@TaMara (HFG): Thank you.
HumboldtBlue
President Trump tried to register to vote in Florida using an out-of-state address – The Washington Post
Tdjr
@Kelly: OMG! I am laughing my ass off!! Thank you for that!!!
HumboldtBlue
In Loìza, Puerto Rico they are protesting for Black Lives Matter with bomba, the islands traditional music which is rooted in Boricua’s African heritage
Chetan Murthy
I’m glad Our President Obama will be speaking. And his words and presence and guidance are sorely needed. At the same time, I’m sad, because he shouldn’t have to do this, and he -is- putting himself and his family at risk by doing this. I can only imagine what Our First Lady Michelle Obama is feeling right now, and just writing this is making me clench up a little.
If the situation weren’t so awful, he wouldn’t have to be risking his safety doing this.
I just hope the FSM is looking out for him and his family.
pluky
@HumboldtBlue: Now that is righteous!
Ben Cisco
@laura: Stomp!!Or, for in the spirit of old B movies, “Night of the Bigfeets.”