Obamas return to the White House, unveil official portraits
Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, returned to the White House Wednesday, unveiling official portraits with a modern vibe in an event that set humor and nostalgia over his presidency against the current harsh political talk about the survival of democracy. While her husband cracked a few jokes about his gray hair, big ears, and clothes in his portrait, Mrs. Obama, a descendant of slaves, said the occasion for her was more about the promise of America for people like herself. “Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” declared President Joe Biden as the gathering cheered. Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, praised his former boss’ leadership on health care, the economy, and immigration and said nothing could have prepared him any better for being president than serving with Obama for those eight years. “It was always about doing what was right,” he said. The portrait of Obama, America’s 44th and first Black president, doesn’t look like any of his predecessors, nor does Michelle Obama’s look like any of the women who filled the role before her. Obama stands expressionless against a white background, wearing a black suit and gray tie in the portrait by Robert McCurdy that looks more like a large photograph than an oil-on-canvas portrait. The former first lady, her lips pursed, is seated on a sofa in the Red Room in a strapless, light blue dress. She chose artist Sharon Sprung for her portrait. Scores of former members of Obama’s administration were on hand for the big reveal. Obama noted that some of them in the East Room audience had started families in the intervening years and feigned disappointment “that I haven’t heard of anyone naming a kid Barack or Michelle.” He thanked McCurdy for his work, joking that the artist, who is known for his paintings of public figures from Nelson Mandela to the Dalai Lama, had ignored his pleas for fewer gray hairs and smaller ears. “He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” Obama quipped, referring to a widely panned appearance as president in the unflattering suit. Obama went on to say his wife was the “best thing about living in the White House,” and he thanked Sprung for “capturing everything I love about Michelle, her grace, her intelligence — and the fact that she’s fine.” Michelle Obama, when it was her turn, laughingly opened by saying she had to thank her husband for “such spicy remarks.” To which he retorted, by way of explanation, “I’m not running again.” Then the former first lady turned serious, drawing a connection between unveiling the portraits and America’s promise for people with backgrounds like her own, a daughter of working-class parents from the South Side of Chicago. “For me, this day is not just about what has happened,” she said. “It’s also about what could happen, because a girl like me, she was never supposed to be up there next to Jacqueline Kennedy and Dolley Madison. She was never supposed to live in this house, and she definitely wasn’t supposed to serve as first lady.” Mrs. Obama said the portraits are a “reminder that there’s a place for everyone in this country.” Tradition holds that the sitting president invites his immediate predecessor back to the White House to unveil his portrait, but Donald Trump broke with that custom and did not host Obama. So, Biden scheduled a ceremony for his former boss. Mrs. Obama said the tradition matters “not just for those of us who hold these positions, but for everyone participating in and watching our democracy.” In remarks that never mentioned Trump but made a point as he continues to challenge his 2020 reelection loss, she added: “You see the people, they make their voices heard with their vote. We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power … and once our time is up, we move on.” McCurdy, meanwhile, said his “stripped down” style of portraiture helps create an “encounter” between the person in the painting and the person looking at it. “They have plain white backgrounds, nobody gestures, nobody — there are no props because we’re not here to tell the story of the person that’s sitting for them,” McCurdy told the White House Historical Association during an interview for its “1600 Sessions” podcast. “We’re here to create an encounter between the viewer and the sitter,” he said. “We’re telling as little about the sitter as possible so that the viewer can project onto them.” He works from a photograph of his subject, selected from about 100 images, and spends at least a year on each portrait. Subjects have no say in how the painting looks. McCurdy said he knows he’s done “when it stops irritating me.” Obama’s portrait went on display in the Grand Foyer, the traditional showcase for paintings of the two most recent presidents. His portrait replaced Bill Clinton’s near the stairway to the residence, the White House tweeted Wednesday night. George W. Bush’s portrait hangs on the wall opposite Obama’s in the foyer. Mrs. Obama’s portrait was hung one floor below on the Ground Floor, joining predecessors Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush, according to the tweet. Two spokespeople for Trump did not respond to emailed requests for comment on whether artists have begun work on White House portraits for Trump and former first lady Melania Trump. Work, however, is underway on a separate pair of Trump portraits bound for the collection held by the National Portrait Gallery, a Smithsonian museum. The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization founded in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and funded through private donations and sales of books and an annual Christmas ornament, helps manage the White House portrait process. Since the 1960s, the association has paid for most of the portraits in the collection. Congress bought the first painting in the collection, of George Washington. Other portraits of early presidents and first ladies often came to the White House as gifts. Republished with the permission of The
Tommy Tuberville, congressional delegation urge Joe Biden to address energy supply chain issues
One Alabama senator, along with nearly a dozen others in Congress, have called on the president to address supply chain shortages within the energy sector. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-AL, penned a letter to President Joe Biden to express concerns over the supply of transformers and other raw materials used to manufacture energy components for the Southeastern United States’ energy grid amid rising concerns from local power companies as the hurricane season moves through its peak. “Transformers are a crucial component of electricity delivery at substations and utility poles,” the delegation wrote in the letter to the president. “This equipment is important not only for keeping up with economic growth, but for restoring power after storms and other extreme weather events. In the past months, costs are skyrocketing, and lead times for some manufacturers are up to two years – while others are not taking orders at all.” In the letter, the delegation, according to the release, encouraged the president to issue a temporary suspension of the Department of Energy’s “most recent conservation standards for transformers” as those components require more steel than in past manufacturing processes. The delegation also urged Biden to “engage the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with suppliers to determine if there is a stockpile of transformers that were bought using federal dollars that can be used in emergency situations.” Tuberville was joined writing the letter by U.S. Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-TN; Roger Wicker, R-MS; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-MS; and Marco Rubio, R-FL; and U.S. Reps. David Kustoff, R-TN; Diana Harshbarger, R-TN; John Rose, R-TN; Scott DesJarlais, R-TN; Tim Burchett, R-TN; Morgan Griffith, R-VA; and Chuck Fleischmann, R-TN.
Democratic candidate for Governor Yolanda Flowers wants to debate Kay Ivey
Alabama Democratic Party nominee for Governor Yolanda Rochelle Flowers told Alabama Today that she would like to debate incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey (R). “Yes, I would love to debate the Governor,” Flowers said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I would like to sit down with her for a cup of tea. There are questions I would like to ask.” Ivey did not debate any of her Republican rivals in the primary, and there are currently no announced debates in which the governor is participating. “I am planning on debating Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake, the Libertarian candidate,” Flowers said. Flowers recently made some changes to her staff preparing for the Fall. “The campaign, it is going ok,” Flowers said. “We are moving forward.” Flowers said that the campaign going to be making more announcements and events in the coming days. “On September 17, there is a fundraising meet and greet banquet in Birmingham,” Flowers said. “We have the debate with the libertarians and a tea party event in October.” Flowers said that that event would be at 720 17th Ave. SW, Birmingham starting at 5:00 pm and would include dinner and gospel music. Call 205-903-4145 for more information or to RSVP. Earlier in the summer, there were some Democrats who expressed fears about Flowers’ Christian beliefs, and Flowers was attacked as being not a supporter of the separation between Church and state. “People will attack you because they want to attack you,” Flowers said. “There are many faiths. I understand that, and there are some people who just won’t believe, but I think most of us have a belief in a higher being.” Flowers said that her campaign welcomed people “of all faiths and even those with no faith at all. The important thing is that you have a good heart and will stop to help me when I am bloodied on the side of the road,” referring to Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan. “Much of it came after Roe versus Wade was overturned. The important thing is if you have love for your fellow man.” Flowers stressed her support for Medicaid expansion. “All of us need Medicaid expansion, not just for the elderly but for the working class,” Flowers said. “We need to be helping rural counties and bringing back hospitals into counties that have lost them.” Flowers supports the legalization of medical marijuana “I am for marijuana,” Flowers said. “If is an herb, it is a natural plant. I just hope that we keep it as natural and pure as possible without mixing a lot of chemicals into it. God gave the herbs for our use.” “That money is not being allocated properly,” Flowers said of the projected $2 billion surplus that the state is projected to have by the end of this month. Despite having record revenues, Flowers still favors passing a lottery. “People should not be forced to go to the other states to play games like the Mega-millions,” Flowers said. Over 100 people have been slain this year in the city of Birmingham thus far this year, and the city appears to be close to setting a record for murders if this pace continues. “We need to clean up the City of Birmingham,” Flowers said. Alabama Today asked if she supported the state cracking down on the violence and imposing more aggressive policing and more prison sentences with longer sentences. “Aggressive policing could mean more police harassment,” Flowers said. “I think we need gun control. I think we did a better job educating our youth so that they solve problems without violence.” “The Second Amendment was passed so that we would have weapons to defend against other countries. Now we are using the guns to wage war against each other,” Flowers said. “I think we need to repeal it (the Second Amendment) to a time of war. We are not the wild west.” “We need to fund the police,” Flowers continued. “We gave a police shortage in Birmingham. They need more training even if that means bringing in the CIA or FBI to do the training.” Flowers said that she is working on getting an engine to pull down donations from ACT Blue and other national Democratic fundraising organizations. Flowers is a former teacher and rehabilitation services professional who is retired from the State of Tennessee. Flowers is a Birmingham native and holds multiple degrees from the University of Tennessee. Flowers will face Ivey and Blake on the November 8 general election ballot. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Sisters who survived Holocaust die days apart in Alabama
Two sisters who survived the Holocaust as girls and moved to the United States afterward died just days apart in their adopted home of Alabama. The Alabama Holocaust Education Center said Ruth Scheuer Siegler died Saturday at the age of 95. Her sister, Ilse Scheuer Nathan, died ten days earlier at the age of 98. The women were born in Germany and were girls when Adolf Hitler rose to power in the 1930s. After losing their parents and older brother in the Holocaust but surviving Nazi death camps themselves, the two women were inseparable, the center said in an announcement. “They were always together,” Ann Mollengarden, education director for the Alabama Holocaust Education Center, told Al.com. “When Ilse died, I think Ruth was ready.” In early 1944, the girls were selected as workers at the Birkenau camp and separated from their mother, who they never saw again, according to a biography of the women. They last saw their father at the camp, and their brother died at a camp in Germany. “The girls worked carrying bricks from one end of the compound to the other for hours at a time. Ilse sewed gun covers and uniforms as well. Working close to the crematory ovens, they saw the mountains of shoes. For the first time, they realized that their fellow prisoners were being killed and cremated,” the biography said. Each woman married fellow Holocaust survivors in 1949. Ruth and Walter Siegler moved to Birmingham in 1960 to be with Ilse and Walter Nathan, who already lived in the area. The women, who taught lessons about the Holocaust, were both widows and remained best friends until the end, living within walking distance of each other for years. In a 2011 interview with The Birmingham News, Ruth Siegler discussed the reasons for writing a memoir, “My Father’s Blessing,” which included papers and photographs that documented her journey surviving the Holocaust. ’’I have all these memories,” she said. ‘’I remember everything.’’ During the interview, her sister Ilse came to visit. The sisters helped each other survive, and faith helped them through, they agreed. ’’I always say have faith and hope,” Ilse Nathan said. ‘’We leaned on each other and prayed together.’’ Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Prep coach Josh Harris on leave after video shows locker room punch
A first-year Alabama high school football coach was placed on leave after video surfaced that appeared to show a man striking a player in a locker room, news outlets reported. Blount High School coach Josh Harris was placed on administrative leave during an investigation into the video, which circulated online, said Rena Phillips, a spokeswoman for Mobile County’s public schools. The video appears to show a man dressed in purple, one of Blount’s colors, punching a player, who responds with a loud cry, WPMI-TV reported. It’s unclear when the video was made. Harris, a graduate of Blount, is in his first season as head coach at the school, which is located near Mobile. He played quarterback at Tuskegee. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
