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Soledad O'Brien
@soledadobrien
, 6 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
My dad passed away last night. He was 85. He was a sharpshooter in the military. A professional athlete. A scientist. Here he is with my mom (and me) in 1966:
He was a generous and kind human being—and a quiet force fighting for civil rights. His marriage to my mom in ‘58 was illegal (she’s black). They were married 59 years. Here he is walking me down the aisle in ‘95. (His twin brother said our wedding mass).
He was brilliant—a star rugby player in his youth (in Australia) he came to the US on a Fullbright and ended up focusing on fluid dynamics and fractals. But mostly he was an awesome dad. Here we are a few months ago, going out to get lunch in nyc.
I already miss him terribly. And I’m grateful for all the folks who moved heaven and earth so I could fly home last night and be there as he took his last breath (looking at all the awesome people at MOSAIC and the @ATLHawks!❤️❤️).
Mostly I feel sorry for people who didn’t get to know my dad. He was a great human being. Love you, Dad. Rest In Power. ❤️❤️
Fun fact: he and my mom were asked by the @ACLU to be the couple that would test the ban on interracial marriage (they lived in Baltimore at the time). They declined. He was working on his PhD. Worried he wouldn’t be able to finish. Here he is with my mom:
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Soledad O'Brien
@soledadobrien
Here’s my prediction: CNN will open with a big, dramatic animated graphic. With music. There will be a pre-game: talking head panelists talking about the wall. It will not include experts on immigration. The President will speak. There will be no timely fact check. 1/
Then there will be the post-game. Again: political pundits, not immigtation experts. It will be framed as yes wall/no wall. Oh, everybody will be white—including the anchors. Much of the conversation will center on “how the President did”, and less on the content. 2/
Even if it’s lies: the big question will be: how was the delivery? Did he seem Presidential (and likeable?). They will drag a short speech into the 10p hour where it will lead the 10 and 11p shows. No immigration experts will appear. Few or no Latinos. That’s my prediction. 3/
Read 3 tweets
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Soledad O'Brien
@soledadobrien
So: my @SpeakerRyan story this morning. Takes place this past summer. I was driving into work when I get a call from one of his staffers that he is trying to reach me. I assume this is a prank bc the few times I’ve tried to book the Speaker for @matteroffacttv : crickets.
@matteroffacttv doesn’t focus too much on political talking heads. They’re often, um, not super honest so we keep them to a minimum and report on actual people across the country. (It’s why out ratings are very good. No joke). Anyhoo. I take the call. But I think it’s a prank.
The Speaker eventually hops on the phone—and it’s him. He has a pretty recognizable voice. He is very friendly even though I tend to call him out on twitter. A lot. He informs me that we are in fact related. Cousins in some way. (I THINK thru my mom’s afro Cuban side).
Read 8 tweets
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Soledad O'Brien
@soledadobrien
People—If you want to learn about strength and courage in the face of indifference and injustice, I encourage you to study the men and women of the Civil Rights movement. Their fight was long, life-threatening, dehumanizing and constantly disheartening. And yet they perservered.
They were lynched, their children were sprayed with fire hoses and set upon by dogs, crosses were burned in their yards, their churches were firebombed, they often relied on their oppressors for their jobs, they were kept from the polls.
So—a little perspective. If you’re angry then use your time and your money and your vote to make change. ❤️
Read 3 tweets

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Subomi
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My dad died without a Will. My mom too. Every day, I bless God for the lives they lived and for the family I was raised in. #NotTooYoungToWill
You see, my dad in particular was one of the most structured human beings I've known. Because he'd had some health challenges before his death, he made his kids co-signatories to his accounts. My mom did too. #NotTooYoungToWill
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Tune into @MSNBC for continuing coverage
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Tracybeanz
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Last night, a veteran with a few thousand followers tweeted that he was going to commit suicide. With a few hours and AFTER he deleted his account, THOUSANDS of people had located his family, called the police, and while we aren’t positive yet if he’s been found (cont)
There was a massive search underway. @RealJamesWoods and @DLoesch took up the cause and used their huge following to broadcast messages about progress and notifications of what to do to HELP the investigation (ie: stop calling the police)
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Sally Hayden
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For the last 24 hours I've been texting & calling with refugees in Libya. 500 are apparently stuck in a Tripoli prison w/o food & water after heavy fighting broke out two days ago. They say their guards ran away, leaving them alone.
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Jack Jenkins
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1. I have written many threads, but this will be my most important — at least to me.

I want to tell you all about my father and namesake, John Jenkins, who passed away last week.

He is the greatest man I have ever known, and we don’t talk about Americans like him often enough.
2. Since so many of y’all follow me because of politics, let me begin by noting that my father often insisted he was politically independent.

In practice, this generally meant he defied tidy political stereotypes.

This will make more sense as I go on.
3. Dad was born in South Carolina, his family’s ancestral home, but bounced around several states throughout his childhood as a military brat.

His high school years were in Alaska, where he became a local baseball hero — one of the newly-minted state’s first “batting champions.”
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Momo ✌️
@Momopichu
Before I lose the idea. R76 and wax museum challenge.
I'm thinking Jack as a journalist, challenged to do the "one night in a wax museum" thing. (Since he lost a bet in his journalist company).

His boss wants a segment of his experience or something so Jack takes a vid camera, sleeping bag, notebooks and some necessities
His bet requires him to set up in the 'murderers' section for maximum fear factor and what not. Jack admits he's a little scared cause everything looks so real.

One of the statues is a guy called Gabriel Reyes. The story was that he murdered people around the city.
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