Late Night Tunes, Irish-Style

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This and That

President Obama presents the 2013 National Teacher of the Year award to Jeff Charbonneau, a high school science teacher from Zillah, Washington, during a Rose Garden event at the White House

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Line of the day? Charles Pierce on Max Baucus: “…. the pestilential trout-mask replica from Montana…”

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Greenwald’s hero ‘Rand Paul Thinks It’s OK To Kill US Citizens With Drones On American Soil’ maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/04/… youtube.com/watch?v=EmOGeB…

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 23, 2013

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Steve Benen: ….. I’d like the folks holding Obama responsible [for gun reform] to consider a look at the recent past. In 2009 and 2010, the White House and Congress successfully approved the Recovery Act, a health care reform law 100 years in the making, Wall Street reform, DADT repeal, student loan reform, New START ratification, credit card reforms, and food-safety reforms. Are those inclined to blame Obama for gun reform’s failure prepared to argue that the president simply forgot how to twist arms in 2011? That he knew how to persuade lawmakers before, but the skill suddenly vanished?

Or is it more likely that congressional Republicans changed the game after the 2010 midterms?

I also believe there’s an ongoing reluctance among many to appreciate the scope of Republican radicalization. For many, especially in media, there’s an assumption that there are two major, mainstream political parties — one center-left, the other center-right — and an effective president can govern through competent bipartisan outreach.

Those assumptions are wrong….

Full post here

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Toronto’s Muslim community led police to terror suspects thkpr.gs/ZGh26B

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) April 23, 2013

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President Obama honors the 2013 National Teacher of the Year

Random teaching photo – hey, any excuse.

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2:15: The President honors the 2013 National Teacher of the Year

White House live * CBS * CNN

Chat Away

So now we know that Max Baucus was not cowardly, he just passionately believes that criminals should be able to buy guns.

— Richard Kim (@RichardKimNYC) April 23, 2013

Rise and Shine

A year ago: President Obama tours the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., with Sara Bloomfield, museum director, and Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor, April 23, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today:

12:30: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney

2:15: The President honors the 2013 National Teacher of the Year

2:45: Meets with the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

6:30: Meets with a bipartisan group of women Senators for dinner

8:30: Vice President Biden Speaks at the Time 100 Dinner

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Peter Beinart: The rap against Barack Obama, at least on the left, has long been that he’s too cautious, too calculating, too conciliatory. Not a guy willing to take risks.

We can apologize now.

What Obama did in the four months between December’s Newtown shooting and this Wednesday’s Senate capitulation was one of the great displays of presidential guts in American history…..

…. [he] pursued gun control with a force of mind and soul that was astonishing to behold. “I never saw a president fight so hard,” remarked Sen. Barbara Boxer, “never on any issue.”

Why did he do it? In part because the Obama-as-timid meme was always a lie …. but beyond that, I suspect that once Obama saw an opportunity, he pushed gun control so hard because he simply cares more. As a community organizer, he worked and lived in the kind of communities where Americans are most often shot…

…. The gun control struggle will likely continue for decades. And this week its arc feels particularly long. But one day, a future president will look back at the last four months as the moment when Barack Obama began to make it bend.

Full post here

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An enemy combatant, according to Lindsey Graham, has no rights except the right to buy gun with no background check. bit.ly/17L26ER

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 23, 2013

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Steve Benen: As the debate over new measures to prevent gun violence reached its apex, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists became surprisingly hostile towards the family members of those slain in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. If there’s one group of people who would appear to be off-limits when it comes to political pushback, one might think it’d be Newtown families, but apparently not.

What’s next, cheap shots at Gabrielle Giffords? Actually, yes…..

Full post here

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