President Barack Obama shoots baskets on the White House basketball court with Justin Friedlander and his family, July 6, 2010. Friedlander, who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in March, 2009, has launched an initiative called “Justin’s Quest,” in which he will shoot 63,000 basketball shots, one for every person diagnosed with a primary brain tumor each year in the United States. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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ThinkProgress: While the unemployment rate for all veterans fell below the national unemployment rate months ago, one group of veterans — those who have served since September 11, 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan — continued to lag behind as the rest of the job market recovered. But in the last few months, the unemployment rate for so-called Gulf War II era veterans —defined by the BLS as those who served in the Armed Forces sometime since September 2001 and have since returned to civilian life — has steadily declined, even eventually dipping below the national unemployment rate for the first time since February 2012. That trend continued on Friday, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its June jobs report showing that the unemployment rate for this newest group of veterans fell to just 7.2 percent last month, its lowest level ever since the BLS regularly began tracking veterans’ unemployment rates in 2009. June also marks the fifth consecutive month in which the unemployment rate for new veterans has fallen.
Always cute when the party that left us losing 900,000 jobs a month complains that only 195,000 jobs were created.
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(@LOLGOP) July 05, 2013The unemployment rate for veterans overall still remains lower than the national average, at just 6.3 percent. A coalition of businesses and officials in the Obama administration have placed a premium on the hiring of veterans. Legislation like the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 offer businesses tax credits for each veteran a company hires and strengthens federal transition assistance programs, while companies like Tesla Motors, Southwest Airlines and JPMorgan Chase have been commended by veterans groups like the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) for their commitment towards the hiring of returning veterans.
First Lady Michelle Obama has also made a big effort to help transition veterans into civilian jobs upon their return, most recently with the announcement of a new credentialing program that aims to help veterans acquire the necessary civilian certification for jobs in the IT industry.
More here
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Under President Barack Obama, the economy has added 7.2 million private sector jobs in the past 40 months. http://t.co/sgxPT4565M
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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 05, 2013*****
Bryce Covert: Rhode Island state House voted 53-18 to pass a bill that would allow workers to take paid time off to care for a new child or a sick or injured family member. The Senate had previously passed the bill, but due to a technical change in the House version it headed back for a final vote in the Senate. That vote will send it to Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s (D) desk, who activists expect will sign it into law.
The bill expands the state’s current Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) program, which currently only covers those who need time off for a work-related illness or injury, to cover those who need family leave. Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) will allow workers to pay into the program through a payroll deduction and then, starting January 2014, take up to four weeks of paid leave, which would rise to six weeks the year after and eight weeks by 2016. Paying into the program would cost someone making $43,000 a year 83 cents a week. The minimum weekly payment for the TDI program is currently $72 and the maximum is $752. It would cover nearly 80 percent of the state’s workforce. California and New Jersey are the only other two states that have programs similar to this one, which allow employees to pay into paid leave insurance. Connecticut also took a step toward creating such a program recently by setting up a task force to study the feasibility.
More here
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Thanks to #Obamacare seniors have saved more than $6.1 billion on their prescription drugs since 2010. The facts: OFA.BO/7HKdPP
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OFA UT (@OFA_UT) July 06, 2013****
Bryce Covert: All but 12 House Republicans voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act two weeks ago, which would ban abortions in the country 20 weeks after fertilization. But for the party of supposed fiscal restraint, such a move comes with a cost. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the bill last week and found that it would increase government spending and deficits. This should surprise no one, however. Reducing access to women’s reproductive choices comes with a high price tag for taxpayers. In scoring the House bill, the CBO said, “Depending on the number of additional births under H.R. 1797, such Medicaid costs could range from about $75 million over the next 10 years to more than $400 million over that period.” The bill would increase the deficit by $75 million between 2014 and 2018 and by $225 million from 2014 to 2023. These costs are thanks to the fact that 40 percent of all births are paid for by Medicaid and additional births will drive up those costs.
Texas, however, should know that cutting off reproductive choices can drive up the government’s costs. In 2011, state legislators slashed funding for family planning services by $73 million in an attempt to deny Planned Parenthood taxpayer dollars because it provides abortions, despite the fact that the clinics that receive state subsidies didn’t provide the service. Denying low-income women access to family planning services was going to mean the delivery of 24,000 babies that they wouldn’t otherwise have had, which were going to cost Texans as much as $273 million thanks to medical expenses and covering their infants under Medicaid. After staring down those numbers, Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have started working to reinstate the funds.
More here
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Guests take pictures as President Barack Obama signs HR 4348, the Transportation and Student Loan Interest Rate bill, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, July 6, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Jamelle Bouie: Today’s story from the New York Times on IRS “filtering” should be the final word on whether this was political targeting or a more mundane instance of mistakes and misjudgments from overworked bureaucrats. Of the nearly 200,000 applications for tax-exempt status the IRS received between 2010 and 2012, it flagged 22,000 for further review. Of those, just 296 came from partisan political groups. In other words, notes the Times, “most of the applications pulled aside for further scrutiny in those years had nothing to do with politics, conservative or liberal, just as most of the red flags thrown up by the I.R.S.’s lookout lists were not overtly political.”
What were some of the other groups flagged by the IRS? “Medical marijuana purveyors, organizations formed to carry out President Obama’s health care law, and open source software developers who create software tools for computer code writers and distribute them free of charge.” Unless Republicans can prove that the White House has it out for open-source developers as well as tea party activists, it’s hard to see how they continue to stand by their claims.
More here
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President Barack Obama listens during a communications planning meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 6, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Neil Irwin: Usually, we are among the first to insist that the monthly jobs report matters not for the wild swings it can create on financial markets but for what it tells us about the state of the U.S. economy and the employment and earnings prospects of our 300 million fellow citizens. Not today. The jobs numbers were pretty good: The nation added 195,000 positions in June, and job creation was significantly stronger than it seemed in April and May. The unemployment rate was unchanged, but more people joined the workforce. All in all, things seem to be getting better, and maybe getting better more quickly than it had seemed 24 hours ago.
More here
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Tom Kludt: The 7-year-old Virginia boy who was struck by a stray bullet while on his way to watch a Fourth of July fireworks display died Friday, according to Richmond-based NBC affiliate WWBT. Police said the accident was likely the result of someone firing a gun in the air to celebrate the holiday. It is still unknown who fired the shot.
The boy and his father were walking to watch a fireworks show in Brandermill, Va. when the youngster fell behind before suddenly dropping to the ground. His father thought his son had passed out until he noticed the bullet wound on top the boy’s head. The boy died at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Va.
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Zoe Schlanger: A South Dakota man fell asleep on his back porch while holding a loaded handgun, and accidentally shot himself in the midsection when a relative turned on the porch light, the Daily Republic reported.
The 34-year-old man suffered minor flesh wounds and was able to transport himself to the hospital.
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TPM: Baltimore man Lassiter Basket, 82, was careful to use blanks and shoot indoors when he fired his handgun to celebrate the Fourth of July, the Baltimore Sun reported. Fragments of a blank moved through his great-granddaughter’s bedroom wall, and burned into her wrists and leg.
More here
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LOLGOP: As some debate whether this country has become more like George Orwell’s 1984 of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, keep in mind that for millions of Americans who have no time to debate such a lofty question, actual oppression exists. This oppression isn’t a overwhelming fear of a the Thought Police or even a steady drugging that manufactures consent. It isn’t theoretical or some slippery slope that slowly envelops true liberty. It’s a never-ending concern about survival and sustenance. It’s a need to keep children fed, clothed and well. It’s knowing that disaster lurks every time your boss is unhappy with you.
The dystopian future we may fear already exists for millions. If you’re expecting fascism to come with a cross and a flag, you’re immune — due to over or underexposure — to the actual economic feudalism that has always trapped the working poor in the country. It’s called wage slavery. The easiest way to trap someone into a life of wage slavery is deny them education and have them start a family before they can afford it. Texas Republicans have this formula for a lifetime of poverty worked out to a science.
The Texas GOP’s jihad against family planning and Planned Parenthood creates unintended pregnancies and leaves poor women with no options. This creates generational poverty and a low-wage workforce with no time to consider how the petrol-funded theocracy of the Lone Star state is designed to make the rich richer and workers less safe and more dependent on the corporations that have indentured them.
More here
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President Barack Obama shares his strawberry pie with a boy during a lunch stop at Kozy Corners restaurant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Christopher S. Rugaber: U.S. employers added a robust 195,000 jobs in June and many more in April and May than previously thought. The job growth raises hopes for a stronger economy in the second half of 2013. The unemployment rate remained 7.6 percent. That was because more people started looking for work in June — a healthy sign. Once people without jobs start looking for one, the government counts them as unemployed. Pay also rose sharply in June, the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report Friday showed. Pay has now outpaced inflation over the past year.
Stock index futures rose shortly after the report was released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. And the yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped from 2.56 percent to 2.65 percent, a sign that investors think the economy is improving. Friday’s report showed that the economy added 70,000 more jobs in April and May than the government had previously estimated — 50,000 in April and 20,000 in May. Average hourly pay rose 10 cents to $24.01, 2.2 percent higher than a year ago. The hotels, restaurants and entertainment industry added 75,000 jobs last month. Retailers added 37,000. Temporary jobs rose 10,000. Manufacturing shed 6,000 jobs. But construction added 13,000, and health care gained 20,000.
Auto sales in the January-June period topped 7.8 million, their best first half since 2007, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward’s AutoInfoBank. Sales of previously occupied homes exceeded 5 million in May, the first time that’s happened since November 2009. New-home sales rose at their fastest pace in five years.
More here
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First Lady Michelle Obama huddles with children during a Joining Forces event with military families at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
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President Barack Obama gets a hug from a little girl as he greets Wounded Warriors and their families in the State Dining Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Have A Frank Lampard Winning Streak Day! 😀
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The Obama Diary 
Happy Weekend!!
To our first family and all of TOD!
And to you Judith!
Thank yooooooooooooooooooou UT!!!!! (but not for that last bit)
HA! You’re lucky I didn’t create a Rise and Shine Manchester United takedown quiz.
“Why Do Chelsea Suck?”
Watch your back woman.
Good Morning, congrats Judith.
Thanks! I’m hardly ever in the top spot and am in awe of several who are, including you, CarolMae.
Thanks. You deserved it this morning. It’s rare I’m Evan on Rise nShine. 😉
Yet another magnificent post!!
+ 1,000,000,000,000,000! Morning Dudette!
Morning Blog Diva!! 🙂
Thank you.
I’m probably gonna get some shade for this, but I just couldn’t see that picture and say nothing.
What the hell??? That’s unbelievable.
I know. SMH!
In my day we called that “stuck-up”, “nose-in-the-air”. But no biggie some of us men folk had to deal with rejection as a matter of course. Besides, if you were polite and acceptable to the girls parents, you were pushed aside so sista gurl could put the sexy side eye on the “Rowdy Roscoe”.
My parents taught me not to respond to people yelling at me on the street like I’m some kinda dog or hooker. My thing is treat a lady like a lady and she’ll notice you.
Just as he has the right to reject someone he’s not into, so is she. I hope you’re not suggesting the way to behave in this situation was to snatch the girl by hair. I hope my sister is teaching son to act like a man of dignity a& distinction rather than a caveman.
Please don’t misinterpret my little blurb or elevate it to another level that would have us both upset. I meant no harm and was remembering another time/era.
So let’s leave this for such a time that would lend itself well to what could be a lengthy discussion. Okay?
Works for me
So be it.
Dudette, thanks for speaking out against his visual suggestion that he would lay hands on her for “ignoring” him. When we have too many in this and other countries thinking women are little more than chattel to be dictated to and controlled by men, no wonder young guys think they should always get what they want in any moment.
UT, you have shown that Texas women are not going to take this attitude.
Good Morning UT fellow TOD’ers.
ah nice UT Morning TOD. Gah. Chores. gotta get the house neat and tidy company’s coming. later! 🙂
Hey here’s a happy list. From Milt – he updated his PBO accomplishments!
Great list of President Obama’s accomplishments. Thanks to Milt Shook for compiling it. And, thank you, a4alice, for sharing it with us.
Excuse me but what is that, is that a black cat?
Gooooooooood Morning everyone…..
GM TOD….
Mr. Kathrada, 83, also showed the Obamas the sign listing the different amounts of sugar, coffee, soup and other foods that South Africa’s prison system had apportioned to blacks; mixed-race inmates, who were known as coloreds; Indians; and whites. “In everything there was apartheid,” he said in an interview on Thursday in his small apartment here in the shadow of Table Mountain. Mr. Kathrada said Mr. Obama’s reaction to the tour last weekend, and to one he gave him in 2006 when Mr. Obama was a senator, was as full of outrage as the typical visitor’s. But he said he especially remembers how Mr. Obama’s daughters, Malia, who was about to turn 15, and Sasha, who was 12, responded. “Malia was much more involved. She asked a lot of questions, but Sasha didn’t. I think she was quite shaken. She just stuck to her mother,” said Mr. Kathrada, who gave 18 tours last year and eight so far this year. ///// Powerful video and story of the man who toured w/ PBO last week…
You could see in the pictures with FLOTUS hugging and holding onto Sasha, and the picture of POTUS holding Sasha also.
Morning:) He’s really put this state on the crapper. WAKE UP. WI !!!!
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/07/06/2261051/scott-walker-quietly-signs-mandatory-ultrasound-bill-into-law/
Unfortunately, ideology trumps reality for a lot of Wisconsinites. A lot of us (not me) thinks he walks on water. Hooray, he’s getting tough on abortion! Send those godless liberals a message! The Koch Machine has spent a fortune in this state convincing otherwise-sensible voters that the poor and the public school teachers are responsible for all the state’s problems. Just get those worthless no-goods off welfare and unemployment and government jobs and we can make some progress. White middle-class resentment sells.
I am so tired of politicians blaming teachers for their inability to govern. Not me, my sister is a teacher. She loves her children as if they were her own, worries about them when she is not with them, uses her own money for classroom, goes early to prepare for class, budget cuts don’t allow hiring of assistants to give teachers prep time they would have at recess and lunch times for children, stays late to do more prep and school work. In the meantime politicians wine and dine with those that fill their pockets with cash while we, the taxpayers, support them even more. If only half of the politicians were like PBO, so much for so many would be done. There , got that off my chest.
This is very good news!!!! Let’s welcome the help without criticism. I remember GWB championing immigration Reform in both of his SOTU speeches.
When POTUS was at the GWB library opening I wondered if there might be a quid pro quo for immigration support.
This is good news on the surface but I can totally understand why forus50 is cynical about this speech. And I too, question the motivation behind it. It appears that efforts by past Presidents to insert themselves in policy debates where PBO has done much of the heavy work are all about them and rehabilitating their “name” so that their relatives (or spouses) can use these platforms to run on in 2016….
No argument with me on your points, hf2. (Clintons, both of them, hurrahing about DOMA repeal, but silent on (gun legislation, VRA , (another example of sharing glory but avoiding responsibility or blame.) Easy to be cynical!
What a delicious R&S. Love the “Pensive President” photo and the Texas women footware cartoon.
It surely seems that the economy is growing despite the GOP’s extreme exertions.
Not to be the downer at this celebration of all things Obama but for NYers on unemployment who have seen their weekly take home shrink to $340.00 from $425.00, what recovery? Two of my close friends have been impacted.
And many people I know are sweating the cuts to housing vouchers that are coming. it is like the music from “Jaws.” We can feel the impending doom.
Still, I maintain hope that us ordinary people will not be completely abandoned. Surely POTUS, his administration, and his Party haven’t completely forgotten us. This destructive sequester must be repealed.
“Surely POTUS, his administration, and his Party haven’t completely forgotten us”
I understand your concerns but something about this phrase doesn’t sit well with me. Why would you think that PBO, “his” administration and “his” party have forgotten ordinary people? Are you assuming that the decrease in UE benefits and cuts to housing vouchers in NYS are solely the result of PBO, “his administration” and “his party” forgetting about ordinary folks? What about the GOP in congress? Don’t they factor at all in this equation?
What about all the GOOD things this POTUS, “his” administration, and “his” party have been able to get done for the ordinary people? PBO has been fighting to preserve and extend UE benefits for as long as I can recall. He has had to sacrifce other things just to maintain these benefits (e.g., in 2011 when he postponed the expiration of the Bush tax cuts).
I hope you are aware of all of this.
I thought Vicki was voicing sentiment she is hearing, not her own.
That’s not what her post conveys. The last three sentences are coming from her.
Just recall what happened here… http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/04/the-sequester-is-a-republican-inflicted-wound/
But whether or not Republicans were right to threaten to create a fiscal Armageddon if Obama didn’t agree to reduce the deficit—through spending cuts, not tax increases, and non-military spending cuts only—that’s what they did. Obama wanted a “clean” increase of the debt limit; the GOP wouldn’t give it to him. That’s why Standard & Poors downgraded the U.S. credit rating. Bondholders didn’t care about the debt ceiling when it was purely ceremonial, but now Republicans had dragged us into an era where we’d need to pass a bill through both houses of Congress just to pay our obligations. They had turned the debt ceiling into the fiscal equivalent of a bill requiring us to start a nuclear war every couple of years unless Washington could agree on an alternative foreign policy.
The political drama of 2011 was about whether we would default, or whether Obama could give Republicans enough of what they wanted to avoid a default. The president and Speaker Boehner tried to negotiate a Grand Bargain for $4 trillion in long-term deficit reduction, which would have taken the debt ceiling off the table for awhile, but they couldn’t. After their negotiations collapsed, Republicans continued to demand significant deficit reduction as their price for raising the debt ceiling, while refusing to include any new tax revenues in a smaller deal. Obama agreed to some cuts, but the GOP insisted on more. That’s when the White House suggested the sequester: $1.2 trillion in cuts that would be politically unpalatable to Republicans and Democrats, taking effect automatically in January 2013 unless a bipartisan “supercommittee” agreed on a better plan. The sequester was supposed to be so awful that it would force the two parties to come together to avoid it, which turned out to be wishful thinking.
The supercommittee failed. Obama comfortably won reelection, but not much has changed on Capitol Hill. January’s deal to avoid the instant austerity of the fiscal cliff—the expiration of the Bush tax cuts plus the sequester—merely punted the sequester to March. And that’s where we are, paying the ransom that Republicans demanded in the summer of 2011. Incredibly, Republicans (who overwhelmingly voted for the sequester) are now calling it the “Obamaquester,” like kidnappers claiming the ransom was their victim’s idea because he came up with the method of payment. If they really hate the sequester as much as they claim, they could always just cancel it—but of course, they don’t want to do that.
Yikes! I don’t think PBO hasn’t done a million good things for ordinary people. And I get that some things get sacrificed in oder to preserve a greater good.
And the opposition POTUS faces is historic in proportion.
Maybe my issue is this: Steve Israel, a prominent Dem Rep. said that the seqestration has turned out like Y2K a big nothing.
Members of Congress were grousing that Fireworks were cut due to sequestoer.
I am wishing for more voices to point out that the sequester is killing many Americans that have no voice.
And I will continue to do that here. Hopefully no TOD member will be offended.
That’s not what I’m seeing here, Vicki
http://govne.ws/item/Rep-Israel-Speaks-Out-Against-Sequestration#
DF, first I will make every effort to examine my tone. I have no wish to upet anyone here.
Next– the Israel statement you cite was in February before much of the sequester had kicked in.
The on-MSNBC comment about sequester was a big nothing was in June. Big difference, since his contention was that nothing bad had happened and clearly for many Americans something terrible had in fact happened.
Similarly, The Hill’s welcome comments were dated March 1.
I wasn’t the only one that saw some conflict in your comment…it appeared to me, and others, that you laid this in PBO’s lap and wanted him or someone in this admin. to take notice and fix it. I don’t think anything was wrong with your tone, and I certainly don’t question your appreciation for all that PBO HAS done….but I’m getting the feeling that you aren’t appreciating the Republican hostage taking and the fact that they simply don’t care whether normal everyday people rot and have to scrape by just to survive. Not their problem.
If Rep Israel is your Rep. you should call his office and ask the pointed questions to him and hold HIM accountable. I don’t know if he voted FOR or against this POS thing. But since THEY work for YOU and not the other way around, like they like to think….I think that you might want to call him and find out. PBO didn’t want this, worked hard for a compromised way out of this, and thought it was a selfish, lazy and reckless way to come to a budget compromise. I agree. Ladyhawke included a post on what the President had to say about sequestration @59.
From PBO statement:
And let’s be clear. None of this is necessary. It’s happening because of a choice that Republicans in Congress have made. They’ve allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit. As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected, and they think that that’s apparently more important than protecting our military or middle-class families from the pain of these cuts.
I believe that they voted in March on this to take effect a couple months later, which is why you see the links from March. Regardless, it’s cruel, harsh and a lazy inefficient way to run a country. This is the Republican way of saying, ” See, we TOLD you that govt doesn’t work for the people! We should just do away with it and everything will be fine! Trust us!” They are hateful, awful people…and getting worse.
One of the things that ordinary people have done to let PBO down on the sequester by not voicing support for his demands to gop first to avoid and now end it.
PBO was counting on us ordinary people to hit the streets and demand repeal of the sequester from our representative. I don’t know where you live but in my location, even the people most impacted just keep quiet & can’t even be bothered to call their representative.
we all know that if legislators do not feel the heat, they just ignore things that concern ordinary & poor people.
I think you can try organizing a call in or street protest of your representative (and the White House) and be sure to ask your sequester-impacted friends/relatives to actively participate. share your activities with us here and they we can also share with out networks.
remember change comes from ordinary people at the grassroots
Glad you picked up on that, too hf….I had to walk away from the computer for a minute….
Thanks df – and thank you for providing this very informative link on the sequester. I hope that vicki will be able to utilize it and pass on the info to her friends, so they can hold the appropriate parties accountable, and direct their anger & frustration accordingly.
“Surely POTUS, his administration, and his Party haven’t completely forgotten us. This destructive sequester must be repealed.This destructive sequester must be repealed.”
Surely you are not suggesting that the President and the Democrats are responsible for the sequester and therefore the burden of repealing it is on them. I don’t like the sequester and neither does the President and the vast majority of Democrats. On a more practical level I don’t think the President has any power to repeal the sequester. Only the Congress can do that. The last time I checked the House of Representatives was dominated by Republicans who think that cutting programs and jobs for poor people is a good thing. Rather than putting all the burden on “POTUS, his administration and his Party,” it might be a good idea to work hard to replace members of Congress who are anti-poor people and for sequester. Again, it may be very hard for people to accept, but the President, though powerful, is not omnipotent. Under the separation of powers, enacting or repealing laws is primarily in the hands of Congress.
Good morning wonderful TOD family. UT you are so great. I also can’t wait to vote for you for President! I can’t wait to see how you use all your talents in the years to come.
Today I am leaving Reno and heading home. Had a wonderful female family reunion. It was so special. The only problem is that they are all conservative Christian’s. These women are very special but most were from Kansas and not fans of the President. They talked alot about how wonderful Ben Carson was. I had to keep my mouth shout. Everytime something came up I changed the subject. I was so thankful to be able to check into TOD to balance my day.
Off to load the car and head out. Have a beautiful day everyone. And thanks to all for being the balance we all need.
http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/07/06/2261131/private-prisons-expect-to-profit-from-immigration-reform/
Follow the money…..
Good morning, TOD! The DelCo GOP intimidation squad continues to provide incentive for Dems to go to the polls is 2013.
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/309389-home-care-worker-wage-rule-to-be-released-this-month
The Obama administration is planning to approve a rule this month that would ensure home care workers are paid the federal minimum wage and overtime.
The Department of Labor said in its spring itinerary for regulations that it expects to finalize a rule in July that would extend minimum pay standards and the 40-hour work week to home care workers.
That would be a boon to an estimated 2.5 million people in the United States who are paid to help the elderly and people with disabilities manage everyday tasks.
Unions have long pushed for changing the rule, which was set in 1974 and meant for babysitters and neighbors who sit with the elderly. Times have changed since then, with an entire industry springing up to provide home healthcare to the greying population.
HUGE…and long overdue:)
Couldn’t agree more.
This is great news.
THE ECONOMIC NEWS COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF CONGRESS HAD NOT FAILED TO ACT
Statement by the President on the Sequester
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
MARCH 1, 2013
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Now, what’s important to understand is that not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away. The pain, though, will be real. Beginning this week, many middle-class families will have their lives disrupted in significant ways. Businesses that work with the military, like the Virginia shipbuilder that I visited on Tuesday, may have to lay folks off. Communities near military bases will take a serious blow. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who serve their country — Border Patrol agents, FBI agents, civilians who work at the Pentagon — all will suffer significant pay cuts and furloughs.
All of this will cause a ripple effect throughout our economy. Layoffs and pay cuts means that people have less money in their pockets, and that means that they have less money to spend at local businesses. That means lower profits. That means fewer hires. The longer these cuts remain in place, the greater the damage to our economy — a slow grind that will intensify with each passing day.
So economists are estimating that as a consequence of this sequester, that we could see growth cut by over one-half of 1 percent. It will cost about 750,000 jobs at a time when we should be growing jobs more quickly. So every time that we get a piece of economic news, over the next month, next two months, next six months, as long as the sequester is in place, we’ll know that that economic news could have been better if Congress had not failed to act.
And let’s be clear. None of this is necessary. It’s happening because of a choice that Republicans in Congress have made. They’ve allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit. As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special interest tax breaks for the well-off and well-connected, and they think that that’s apparently more important than protecting our military or middle-class families from the pain of these cuts.
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2013/03/01/president-obama-makes-statement-sequester#transcript
Jake Tapper is on Twitter quarreling with folks who call him out – instead of spending July 4th weekend with his family on a nice hoilday weekend. He has moved on from SOS Kerry & Dept of State, to the fireworks being cancelled for the Marines. Of course, no blame for the GOP…
It never seems to end.
This is fake I believe. Katy Perry never tweeted on July 5th.
I’m always skeptical of these kinds of tweets. I was just about to say why doesn’t Katy Perry simply go visit the child if she’s that invested?
Goodmorning/Afternoon/Evening Chips and my TOD family. I hope all is well with everyone on this Sat., 2013.
Thanks for the information, DF. You keeps us updated , and I so appreciate you((((( DF))))))
I hope all is well with Gobrooklyn today. ((((((Loving healing hugs, Gobrooklyn))))))))
Let us help Katy Perry make this beautiful compassionate wish come true for little Meredith. I am going to believe we can and will.
Again, thanks you Chips for all that you do to make this such a beautiful place for us to support our president and use our talents to lovingly help our brothers and sisters in this world.
Thanks to you and all of the beautiful and brilliant minds that are on your team. ((((((((((((( I am so grateful to all of you)))))))))))))HZ
If this is true – I hope there are no deaths.
OMG. I hope everyone is okay. This is horrible.
California Beat @californiabeat 4m
UPDATE: Evacuation slides deployed on Asiana Airlines plane; some passengers escape safely. Fire Dept. reports multiple burn patients.
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A person who was on the plane.
This is very good news – coming from an actual passenger. Thanks UT for posting the tweet.
LIVE STREAM for crash here: http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/ktvu-live-news/vtSfR/?updated
New Post: http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/06/africa-a-recap/