Rise and Shine

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Saturday: The President has no public events scheduled

Sunday: The President and the First Family will depart for Belfast, Northern Ireland (9:20 PM)

Monday: The President and the First Family will arrive in Belfast in the morning, where he will deliver remarks – the First Lady will introduce the President at the event.

The President will then meet with Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of the G8 Summit. Later, he will attend the G-8 Summit at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, hosted by PM Cameron, from June 17-18.

On Monday evening, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

Tuesday: In the evening, following the G-8, the President and the First Family will travel to Berlin, Germany.

Wednesday: The President will have a meeting with President Gauck and Chancellor Merkel to discuss a wide range of bilateral and global issues.

Later that afternoon, at the invitation of Chancellor Merkel, President Obama will speak at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

On Wednesday evening, the President and the First Family will return to the White House.

Thursday and Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House.

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Please do not pay attention to the negative people. I am an American living the American Dream. This is part of the American life.

— Sebastien De La Cruz (@selcharrodeoro) June 12, 2013

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Daniel W. Drezner (Foreign Policy): Why Obama is arming Syria’s rebels: it’s the realism, stupid.

…. is this the first step towards another U.S.-led war in the region? No. Everything in that Times story, and everything this administration has said and done for the past two years, screams deep reluctance over intervention. Arming the rebels is not the same thing as a no-fly zone or any kind of ground intervention. This is simply the United States engaging in its own form of asymmetric warfare. For the low, low price of aiding and arming the rebels, the U.S. preoccupies all of its adversaries in the Middle East.

…. Now let’s be clear: to describe this as “morally questionable” would be an understatement. It’s a policy that makes me very uncomfortable… until one considers the alternatives. What it’s not, however, is a return to liberal hawkery.

So, to conclude: the United States is using a liberal internationalist rubric to cloak a pretty realist policy towards Syria.

Am I missing anything?

Full post here

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House GOP votes to block closure of Gitmo, where is the outrage from Bernie Sanders and his friends on left.

— Michael Hargrove (@MichaelHargrov1) June 15, 2013

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Steve Benen: It was just three weeks ago that President Obama made a persuasive case for closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. He described a military prison that costs too much, has become an international embarrassment, and is filled with “people who have been charged with no crime.”

…. Last week, House Republicans once again barred the Obama administration from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Friday, against a backdrop of a terrible hunger strike, a Democratic effort to do the right thing was easily defeated in the face of mindless, reactionary conservative opposition.

More here

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Ooooops:

I feel obligated to share, as the story unfolds, my creeping concern that the NSA leaker is not who he purports to be http://t.co/dOV2XYXdRe

— Naomi Wolf (@naomirwolf) June 14, 2013

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Kurt Eichenwald: PRISM Isn’t Data Mining and Other Falsehoods in the N.S.A. “Scandal”

I can’t stand it.

A few days ago, I wrote in some detail about the National Security Agency’s data-mining program in hopes of calming the hysteria that has been whipped up in the last number of days by incorrect and misleading reports, as well as by plenty of ill-informed commentary based on those errors. At this point, I’ve decided that I need to tell a little bit more…..

See here

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True Facts of History: Eric Holder Uncovered & Corrected NSA Eavesdropping Overreach. In 2009. http://t.co/OGH9A2Rtj0

— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) June 15, 2013

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Tommy Christopher (Mediaite): …. Glenn Greenwald and his source, whistle-and-country-blower Edward Snowden, have completely taken over the political media with revelations that hype well, but don’t amount to much upon closer examination. Now, Greenwald promises more (and more devastating) revelations to come, but what has been revealed so far is about as alarming as an epidemic of Pac Man Fever….

…. That hasn’t stopped the media from going all Chicken Little, some because they’re desperate to “have the conversation,” some because they want to attack President Obama to prove varying types of cred, and some because they’d like even less fettering of the surveillance state. I think we do need to “have the conversation” about government surveillance, but it should begin in 1978, not last week, when the world discovered that the first black president was in charge of it….

Full post here

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This is CNN pic.twitter.com/EVI8DvQQlw

— Fletcher Previn (@fletcherprevin) June 15, 2013

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Michael Tomasky: Elijah Cummings Fights Back

Kudos to the Democratic congressman for standing up to Darrell Issa on the IRS investigation—and showing once again how conservatives refuse to sort fact from fiction.

This is becoming quite a throwdown between Darrell Issa, the wild-swinging GOP chairman of the House oversight committee, and Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat. Cummings is showing himself to be a pretty tough customer, and if this IRS “matter” (the media should either stop referring to it as a scandal or make it clear that the only scandal here is Issa’s reckless behavior) fizzles as quickly and lamely as it looks as if it might, it’ll be Cummings who’ll deserve a lot of the credit for breaking some of the silly protocols of Capitol Hill and calling nonsense nonsense….

Read here

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LA Times: Six months ago Americans reacted with horror to the slaughter of 20 children and six school employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Suddenly, gun safety legislation was front and center everywhere, including Washington.

Then in April, a recalcitrant Senate succumbed to pressure from gun manufacturers and the NRA’s leadership and failed to pass even the most modest measure, a bill to extend background checks to gun shows and Internet sales. The president was angry, the families of victims frustrated, and the moment for gun control seemed lost.

But the Senate vote was hardly the whole story. Since the Newtown tragedy, gun regulation has made enormous gains in states across the country, with more on the horizon. In fact, an unprecedented number of gun control laws have been introduced, debated, voted on and enacted this year. What a difference Sandy Hook and six months have made….

More here

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ThinkProgress: This AP Article Is Everything That’s Wrong With Sensationalistic Obamacare Stories

Employers will struggle to comply with the new health care mandates, drop insurance coverage, increase costs, and lay off workers! Low-income employees will be subject to sky high premiums, a health care mandate they can’t afford, or go uninsured altogether!

Those are just some of the wild-eyed claims buzzing around the Affordable Care Act and its implementation. Consider this lede from Friday’s Associated Press: “It’s called the Affordable Care Act, but President Barack Obama’s health care law may turn out to be unaffordable for many low-wage workers…..”

…..But skip down to the end of the piece and you’ll find a curious quote from Neil Trautwein of the National Retail Federation, which represents the very employers the AP claims are going to take advantage of the health law’s impurities to increase health care costs for low-income workers while avoiding its penalties.

He appears to disagree entirely with the AP’s premise….

Read here

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Okay, this made me smile…..

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A year ago…

June 15, 2012: “We had just arrived at the helicopter landing zone in Chicago and instead of walking right to the motorcade, the President and First Lady walked past their vehicle to the edge of Lake Michigan to view the skyline of their home town.” (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Hey, it’s the second anniversary of the baby whispering:

June 15, 2011: “Call him the baby soother. At the Congressional picnic on the South Lawn, the First Lady held a young baby who began crying (top photo). The President then came over to hold the same baby and was able to quiet her down as the First Lady reacted in astonishment in the background of the bottom photo.” (Photo by Pete Souza)

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MooooOOOooorning! Another short-ish R&S, will try and catch up with all the news I missed a bit later. Huuuuuuuuuge thanks again to the mega fab blog tyrants for yesterday’s posts.