M. E. Berzins

Former editor, librarian, & nonprofit professional at MacArthur Fellows Program

[Michelle Obama @MichelleObama]

So much of my story—and Barack's—runs through the South Side of Chicago. We had so much fun going down memory lane with @People, sharing moments from the decades we've spent together, the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, and the work we still have left to do in our next chapter. We hope you'll check out the interview: https://t.co/N7HgrjrQRj

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

“This is going to get worse, folks, before it gets better.”

In the midst of a record-breaking heatwave in Europe, “it appears as if the [Trump] administration is willing to ignore science, ignore the facts on the ground,” says former US Secretary of State John Kerry.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Reconstruction was a pivotal and turbulent chapter in our nation’s history – and its consequences are still being felt today. With @HGMedia's Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise, I hope folks can rediscover an essential part of our past and remember that even in moments of deep conflict and contradiction, persistence and perseverance remain powerful sources of hope.

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

🚨🚨🚨

Pulte begins a purge of the intelligence community. Add it to what Hegseth is doing w/ the military, Blanche w/ Justice, Patel w/ FBI, and hirings at ICE, and we’re entering a very dangerous period, one that makes Watergate look like child’s play.
https://t.co/T0MxVKYyLb

[The New Yorker @NewYorker]

A new book by the Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan contends that Trump ran in 2024 for one reason above all: “This was about staying out of prison.” https://t.co/tiWqJrmDWc

[Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse]

Who’s going to tell him?

JD Vance claims it’s a “major milestone” to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors into Iran.

(Yup, from Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal.)

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

NEW: Pope Leo XIV stood beside Cindy McCain — John McCain's widow — at the U.N. World Food Programme on Monday and told the world’s governments they have learned to feed their wars faster than they feed hungry children.

Within hours, MAGA influencers were comparing the first U.S.-born pope to Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. https://t.co/YOsGYyrbXq

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

I wish to appeal to the governments and peoples of the world to renew and strengthen their commitment, to increase the resources dedicated to combating hunger and its root causes, and to remove the obstacles that prevent aid from reaching those in need. At the same time, such support should also strengthen engagement with the Church and civil society. Reinforcing the capacities of all these actors together will multiply our collective effectiveness in the fight against hunger.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

More than 40 years ago, I arrived in Chicago in search of an idea. I was a young man looking for purpose, who believed deeply in America, was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, and wanted to be a part of something larger. The America I believed in was one where everyone has opportunity, everyone is seen, everyone belongs—because that was an America that had a place for me, too.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem.

Donald Trump won’t let it open.

Here is why.

The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary.

He called Trump.

Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty.

Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry.

Canada paid for the entire bridge.

Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner.

This is corruption in plain sight.

A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price.

Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check.
https://t.co/9o9Gz9UrBo

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Michelle Obama: We simply don't have the luxury or time to be cynical or complacent, to wring our hands in despair, or to wait for someone else to fix the problem. Hope is all we have, because hope is the essential spark that lights the fire of change. But hope is a choice. Whether or not we use our voices to speak up is a choice. Voting is a choice. Being a decent human being is a choice. Believing that we still hold the power to build a country that reflects us all is a choice.

[Jennifer Hudson @IAMJHUD]

Performing at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center was a moment I will carry with me forever. I’m still processing it all and taking it all in…Being surrounded by all the living former Presidents of the United States while I sang our National Anthem was something I’ll never forget. The Impossible Dream took on new meaning as we celebrated @BarackObama’s legacy of hope and service to our country. And all of this happening where I grew up on the South Side of Chicago…It’s almost too much to put into words. I’m just so proud to have been part of this momentous day and to witness this historic occasion ! Look what God has done !

[Chris D. Jackson @ChrisDJackson]

📸 First Ladies Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Four good, professional and dedicated women who served the nation well in their own right.

[Amunet @freakoutsideofx]

The Obamas, Kamala Harris jamming out, and folks doing the electric slide to Stevie Wonder!🥹❤️

[That Gay Guy Candle Co. 🇺🇸 @gayguycandleco]

Angela Merkel making the trip for the Obama Center opening is such a show of respect.

She’s lived a largely private life since leaving office.

[John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz]

Dear Former President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama,

I’ve watched you and your children attacked with a ferocity and cruelty that defy any sense of decency and that certainly have no precedent.

I’ve watched your birthplace called into question, your personal faith ridiculed, your patriotism mocked, your gender contested, and your very humanity discounted.

I’ve watched you endure the incessant, bitter venom of those for whom the color of your skin was always going to be a problem.

And through all of it, I’ve watched you be the better humans, always going high despite their sickening depths.

In the face of a sustained, spitting, violent, raw-throated hatred, you’ve never responded in kind.

You never allowed yourselves to be defined by the bigotry of your critics, and you never dehumanized them or let them win by becoming them.

[Governor JB Pritzker @GovPritzker]

We used to have presidents who exhibited character, honesty, integrity, kindness, and empathy.

Those are all things that I think all of us long for once again.

We were reminded today by Barack Obama that we can have that.

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

Eddie Vedder worked with a group of teenage kids in Chicago to write, rehearse and perform this song in front of three former presidents. Just an incredible commitment of time and love and labor from him.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

If we can reclaim the spirit that so many of you showed all those years ago—the spirit that has inspired generations of Americans to answer the call of their time—then together, we can see America through its present trial, align our politics with our highest ideals, and write a brilliant new chapter in America’s best story.

Yes, we can.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

.@MichelleObama's classy eloquence is the perfect rebuttal to those who demean themselves by insulting her.