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Black Kos, Week In Review: Queen Michelle: Leading With Grace and Integrity [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-17
Commentary by Black Kos editor JoanMar
Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not be attending the official coronation of what can only be described as the second coming of a self-proclaimed wannabe king. Refusing to sacrifice her integrity or peace of mind, she will not lend her presence—or credibility—to someone she considers among the least deserving figures in the history of politics. By setting this personal boundary, she makes a clear statement that she will not dignify the beginning of a term that we all know will be defined by chaos, grifting on steroids, incompetence, grandstanding, stolen valor, vulgarity, and unhinged dumbfuckery. I’m guessing that she just doesn’t have it in her to sit through another ceremony smiling and nodding even as she’s surrounded by people who hate her guts and every one who looks like her. It’s not like they’ve made any effort to hide how they feel about her.
The First Lady has spoken openly about the emotional and psychological price she paid for attending that first ceremony in 2017. That time when she prioritized propriety and tradition, even as she was subjected to the most vulgar repudiation of everything she and husband had worked so hard to achieve over the previous eight years. It was an act of duty, an effort to honor the institution of the presidency over her own mental well-being and she paid price. Reflecting on that experience, she said:
“There were tears, there was that emotion. But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America. When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight, uncontrollable sobbing, because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years. After the inauguration – and we know whose inauguration we were at – that day was so emotional on so many different reasons.”
At the age of 7, I went to live with my politically engaged Grandmother, whose passion for activism deeply influenced me. Since that tender age, I have been fervently and enthusiastically involved in politics and the pursuit of social justice. Engaging in politics inevitably means that one has to be a news enthusiast—keeping informed about history and current events, both domestically and internationally.
Were my beloved Grandmother alive today, she would be appalled by how little news I have consumed since the evening of November 5, 2024. Our cowardly and criminally incompetent journalists and commentators have yet to master the art of reporting without inserting the name and likeness of that abomination into their coverage. I cannot bear to see the self-satisfied expression of a man who knows that he has repeatedly beaten the system and successfully avoided any any accountability. The mere thought of being in his company makes me feel physically ill.
I imagine Mrs. Obama might feel the same way.
This time around, Mrs Obama’s social mask is just not up to the task of hiding her revulsion and contempt. Not this time. Not for hours, not for a single minute, even. In this, she embodies every one of us who stand on the right side of history.
I won’t be watching cable or network news on January 20. Instead, I’ll be tuning into the Australian Open round of 16, happily cheering for Coco, Osaka, Paolini, Zverev, and Ben. Between matches, I might watch something from my “To Be Watched” list — perhaps Rebel Ridge or a rewatch of The Count of Monte Cristo. Looking forward to that!
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Marking the end of her vice presidency, Harris assured her current and former staffers, "It is not my nature to go quietly into the night, so don't worry about that." The Grio: Kamala Harris etches her name in history with desk signing and hints at what’s next for her
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Kamala Harris marked the end of her vice presidency with a tradition at the White House as she signed her name onto a ceremonial desk that has been signed by every vice president since the mid-1900s. In her ceremonial office inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building just across the street from the White House, Harris added her signature to the desk’s top drawer. The historical desk, first used by former President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, has been used by several U.S. presidents, including William Taft, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Harry Truman. According to the White House, the desk was used by all subsequent vice presidents except Hubert Humphrey, beginning with Lyndon B. Johnson’s vice presidency. Carrying on the modern tradition of signing the desk, Harris joined Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and dozens of current and former staff members to mark the historic moment. As the first woman and first Black woman to serve as U.S. vice president, Harris’ signature also marks the first time that a woman’s signature has been added to the 123-year-old desk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's recall how the former first lady said she decided to make her own "optic adjustment" when Trump was first sworn in eight years ago. Newsone: What Michelle Obama Said About Trump’s 1st Inauguration Could Be Why She’s Skipping His 2nd
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Little to no information was given to help explain the report that former First Lady Michelle Obama would not be attending Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday. However, a look back in time to eight years ago likely more than answers the question of why she won’t be on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol as Trump gets sworn into office for a second time.
The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama said in a statement on Tuesday that “Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies” before adding that “Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration.”
The statement came days after Michelle Obama missed former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Washington, D.C., an absence that CNN attributed to a “scheduling conflict” while she was “in Hawaii on an extended holiday vacation.”
It’s unclear if Michelle Obama will still be in Hawaii on Monday. However, what seems to be abundantly clear is that Michelle Obama has had enough of Donald Trump.
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Meet Cook County Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman. NewsOne: Not Fired: White Judge Reassigned After Sharing Racist Meme Of Black Child Receiving ‘First Ankle Monitor’
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If there was ever a serious, thorough probe into racism in the U.S. justice system, I imagine it would be like turning a seemingly immaculate rock upside down to reveal the infestation of insects on the bottom side. Of course, for Black people, there really is no revelation; we know how racist police officers and officers of the court can be. However, the “tough on crime” advocates in the U.S. at least pretend to be unaware of the numerous investigations that have been conducted into racist cops and judges sharing their racist thoughts via text, recorded conversation or social media posts, and even if they are aware of these stories, they don’t care because they don’t believe (or pretend not to believe) a person should be branded as a racist just because they share thoughts of demonstrable racism.
Anyway, another racist judge has been caught sharing her racist thoughts, but instead of being removed from the bench — and out of the position of power that could subject Black civilians to her racial bias — she was simply reassigned.
Meet Cook County Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman.
According to WBEZ Chicago, Glennon-Goodman was reassigned and ordered by Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans to undergo bias training last Friday, and she will face a state disciplinary investigation all because she couldn’t keep her racist white nonsense off of social media.
x ‼️A wHITE Cook County Judge Has Been Reassigned After Texting a Racist “MY FIRST ANKLE MONITOR” Picture To Another Judge 😱
📍Chicago | Illinois
“My husband’s idea of Christmas humor,” Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman wrote in a text 📲 pic.twitter.com/TNWKWTemeW — i Expose Racists & Pedos (@SeeRacists) January 12, 2025
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Thirty-six bodies brought to surface amid claims 109 are dead and between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped. The Guardian: Bodies recovered from illegal goldmine in South Africa where many feared dead
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Thirty-six bodies have been brought out of an illegal goldmine in South Africa and 82 people have been taken out alive since Monday, after police blocked supplies of food, water and medicine to the workers underground in October in an attempt to force them out.
On Thursday, a letter brought up to the surface claimed there were 109 dead bodies underground. A video circulated by the NGO Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) appeared to show more than 50 wrapped bodies laid out in a tunnel.
Another video showed emaciated men begging to be sent food and rescued. Macua had claimed there were between 400 and 800 people still alive and trapped underground before the operation began at the Buffelsfontein mine near Stilfontein, about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg.
Police launched Operation Vala Umgodi (plug the hole) in late 2023 in an effort to stamp out illegal mining. In early November, they said their prevention of essential supplies being sent down the mineshafts around Stilfontein had forced hundreds of miners to the surface since mid-October “as a result of starvation and dehydration”. Later in November and December, they allowed some supplies to be sent down.
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