This and That

Pete Souza: Pres Obama speaking in Jacksonville, Florida

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Steve Benen: AG Holder to fight Texas on voting rights

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act, Republican policymakers acted with remarkable speed – literally, less than 24 hours – to approve new voting restrictions, most notably a controversial voter-ID law.

When the Voting Rights Act was intact, changes to voting laws in the Lone Star State would need to be cleared with the Justice Department in advance of being implemented, but with the law gutted by a narrow Supreme Court majority, GOP officials in Texas assumed the Justice Department is no longer relevant, and they could do as they pleased.

The nation’s Attorney General apparently believes otherwise….

More here

And see TPM: Holder’s Move Against Texas Could Send The Voting Rights Act Back To The Supreme Court

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Steve Benen: Among voter-suppression bills, ‘This is the single worst’

Over the last few years, we’ve seen quite a few states take up new voting restrictions, immediately on the heels of Republican gains in the 2010 election cycle, so much so that the notion of a “Republican war on voting” was widely recognized and understood. After the 2012 elections, despite the failures of voter suppression, state GOP officials renewed their efforts.

But it’s probably fair to say we haven’t seen anything quite as astounding as the proposed restrictions in North Carolina. Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said, “This is the single worst bill we have seen introduced since voter suppression bills began sweeping the country.”

More here

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I am sick and tired of Cornel West’s race and poverty pimping, and I am calling him out. http://t.co/5curU3yXnE

— The People’s View (@thepeoplesview) July 26, 2013

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BlackAmericaWeb: Is Anyone Black Enough for Cornel West?

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shock! “@BlackCanseco: #GeorgeZimmerman’s “heroic” car crash rescue may be fraudulent after all. http://t.co/ktNe1UsG3U #thanksgeorge #syg”

— Wieland (@lawscribe) July 25, 2013

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Zimmerman Juror B29 in her own words… http://t.co/VA0y5nRJ89

— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) July 25, 2013

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Trayvon Martin’s parents: Juror B29′s revelations ‘devastating’ http://t.co/J3EezZa8FJ

— theGrio.com (@theGrio) July 26, 2013

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More here

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To see the whole list of 25 Thoughts on Conservative Policies, visit http://t.co/amvoTfLJRR …,

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 26, 2013

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This really is beyond belief:

ThinkProgress: Ohio Plans Unspeakably Cruel Appeal Of Dying Man’s Last Wish

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President Obama tours Jacksonville port with, from left, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx; Dennis Kelly, TracPac Regional Vice President and General Manager; Ray Schleicher, CEO of the Jacksonville Port Authority, and Fred Wakefield, International Longshoreman’s Association Representative

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Text of the President’s remarks in Jacksonville today here

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EXCLUSIVE: Inside Groundswell, the right-wing group where activists & journalists coordinate messaging http://t.co/9GZRllKxED #groundswell

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) July 25, 2013

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President Obama talks with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx aboard Air Force One during the flight to Jacksonville, July 25 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Republicans Launch A Campaign to Convince The Uninsured NOT to Buy Health Insurance http://t.co/jYpAor88Bi via @politicususa #p2 #p2b #ctl

— Sarah Reese Jones (@srjones66) July 25, 2013

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Norm Ornstein: The Unprecedented, Contemptible GOP Quest to Sabotage Obamacare. What the Republicans are doing now goes beyond mere hardball politics – and could hurt millions of Americans affected by health-care reform.

And from Steve Benen: None dare call it sabotage

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So many OFA vols are calling @SpeakerBoehner today demanding action on #Immigration they are waiting on hold 40 min to leave a message

— Jon Carson OFA (@JonCarsonOFA) July 25, 2013

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What’s most telling re @thehill‘s f**k-up is their eagerness to create anti-Obama story when he wasn’t even mentioned pic.twitter.com/re95CMaBod

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) July 25, 2013

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President Obama reaches up to touch a media microphone while talking with people along a tarmac ropeline after arriving at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., July 24 (Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

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New CBO report finds sequester cuts will cost up to 1.6mill jobs by Sept. 2014. Time for GOP to move fwd on a budget: http://t.co/xioecdOjEB

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) July 25, 2013

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A southern strategy for the 21st century http://t.co/fcfDS4ZOjW

— Smartypants (@Smartypants32) July 25, 2013

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ThinkProgress: Washington Nationals Use Teddy Roosevelt Mascot To Promote Obamacare

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A MUST READ “@joshuafoust: I made a timeline of Edward Snowden’s flight from the U.S. It raises a lot of questions. http://t.co/MVbbc8jxYF”

— Jeff Gauvin (@JeffersonObama) July 25, 2013

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If you’ve ever wondered what landing on the South Lawn of the White House was like…here you go —> pic.twitter.com/QrqGpUlzEq

— The White House (@whitehouse) July 25, 2013

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USA Today: President Obama is declaring Saturday to be Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.

“I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities that honor our distinguished Korean War veterans,” Obama said in a proclamation signed Thursday.

Obama will commemorate the event with a speech on Saturday at the Korean War memorial in Washington, D.C.

More here

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Pete Souza: Pres Obama signing photos backstage in Jacksonville

A Message from Lisa, Tyren’s Mom

President Barack Obama signs a photograph as he greets people on the tarmac upon arrival at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, La., July 25, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

UT included the above photo in today’s R&S – the young man pictured is Tyren Edward Anthony Scott. Tyren’s mother Lisa contacted us at the time to let us know that Tyren was the same young man who asked the President “why do people hate you?’ at a town hall in New Orleans three years earlier:

“He was nine when he asked the President that question and in the latest picture he’s 12. President Obama stood there with us, talked for about three minutes, he remembered Tyren and signed an 11 x 14 picture of their first encounter.”

We sent our best wishes to Tyren, Lisa and all the Scott family this morning, so it was really lovely to receive this comment from Lisa:

Good Afternoon,

Thanks for the great comments on my son Tyren Edward Anthony Scott.

Tyren starts school on Aug. 6. He’s now 13 and in the 8th grade.

Tyren and I are doing great. I visit the website several times a day and was surprised to see Tyren. He’s growing up to be a fine young man. I am not saying that because he is my son, I say that because he has a great heart. He was upset with the verdict in the Zimmerman trial. As a matter of fact after President Obama spoke on Friday he emailed the President on Sunday.

I had to have that talk with him on how to be careful especially as a young black teen.

He’s still very respectful (yes sir/no sir). Tyren is still a good student and he’s involved in the community. He loves people and he does not see color until it slaps him in his face. I had to tell him he is not a thug.

Tyren loves fishing, deer hunting, plays in high school band (sax), football, baseball and he still helps his Uncle Tweed with the chickens LOL.

I tell people all the time you can not raise a child by yourself. So I ask The Obama Diary family to keep us in your prayers.

LISA SCOTT

DARKNESS CANNOT DRIVE OUT DARKNESS; ONLY LIGHT CAN DO THAT.

HATE CANNOT DRIVE OUT HATE, ONLY LOVE CAN DO THAT.

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Heads Up: President Obama in Jacksonville

2:35 EDT: President Obama Speaks at the Jacksonville Port Authority

Also at:

White House Live * C-Span * CBS

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Later:

8:45 EDT: President Obama Speaks at the IFTAR Dinner

Some Light Relief: Back in April…

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Whyyyyyyyyy on earth, I hear you ask, are we getting a post of photos from the WHCD when it took place as long ago as flippin’ April? Well, I only found these today – hey, better late than never, right? We’ve seen same/similar before, but there were a few new to me, so feast your eyes.

You can see them all here – but they have no captions, so I have no clue who some of the people are in a few of the pics near the bottom of the post.

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President Henry …. what a lovely thought 😕

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A kiss from General Ray Odierno:

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I don’t mean to be unkind – well, I do – but I always think if you morphed Laurel and Hardy in to one, you’d get Ed Henry:

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Rise and Shine

President Obama speaks about the economy during a visit to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, July 24

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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)

10:15: President Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam

11:30: The President departs the White House

1:25: Arrives Jacksonville, Florida

1:55: Tours the Jacksonville Port Authority

2:35: Delivers remarks

3:40: Departs Jacksonville

5:35: Arrives the White House

8:45: Hosts an Iftar dinner

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Knox College, July 24

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Steve Benen: After a whole lot of buildup from the White House, President Obama delivered one of those rare speeches that has its own name: “A Better Bargain for the Middle Class.”

… This was a very forward-thinking speech. While Republican leaders regularly present a vision of a different kind of America – one without a safety net, without access to affordable health care, without retirement security, without education, without environmental protections, without the right to organize or bargain collectively, but plenty of Ayn Rand-approved “freedom” – this was the president’s opportunity to sketch out a more progressive alternative.

…. what Obama thinks should be next is a center-left approach, built on the belief that lasting prosperity comes from an economy that rejects a top-down model in which we help the rich and wait for wealth to someday trickle down, but focuses instead on a “middle-out” model that emphasizes the middle class. (The president used the phrase “middle class” 25 times in this speech.)

If the president’s detractors have anything even remotely as compelling, I’m eager to see it.

Full post here

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Statement by the President on Student Loans

A better bargain for the middle class means making a college education available to every single American willing to work for it.  That’s why I applaud the wide bipartisan majority of Senators who passed a bill to cut rates on nearly all new federal student loans, rolling back a July 1st rate hike and saving undergraduates an average of more than $1,500 on loans they take out this year.

This compromise is a major victory for our nation’s students.  It meets the key principles I laid out from the start: it locks in low rates next year, and it doesn’t overcharge students to pay down the deficit.  I urge the House to pass this bill so that I can sign it into law right away, and I hope both parties build on this progress by taking even more steps to bring down soaring costs and keep a good education – a cornerstone of what it means to be middle class – within reach for working families.

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Norm Ornstein: The Unprecedented — and Contemptible — Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare

Doing everything possible to block the law’s implementation is not treasonous — just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials.

When Mike Lee pledges to try to shut down the government unless President Obama knuckles under and defunds Obamacare entirely, it is not news—it is par for the course for the take-no-prisoners extremist senator from Utah. When the Senate Republicans’ No. 2 and No. 3 leaders, John Cornyn and John Thune, sign on to the blackmail plan, it is news — of the most depressing variety.

I am not the only one who has written about House and Senate Republicans’ monomaniacal focus on sabotaging the implementation of Obamacare — Greg Sargent, Steve Benen, Jon Chait, Jon Bernstein, Ezra Klein, and many others have written powerful pieces. But it is now spinning out of control.

It is important to emphasize that this set of moves is simply unprecedented….

More here

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https://twitter.com/jonathan_coby/status/359460759312408579

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Robert Plumber, a Korean War Vet who was one of the first African-American Navy UDT divers (AKA Frogmen, the precursors to the US Navy SEALs), talks about the importance of defending Voting Rights after being arrested with Rev. Barber and dozens of others at the 12th Moral Monday action in Raleigh, North Carolina. Plumber, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement was arrested previously with Dr. Martin Luther King.

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Paul Ryan has the worst memory in American politics – and it’s getting worse http://t.co/8gFLgnUVpD That, or he’s breathtakingly dishonest

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen) July 24, 2013

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The much bigger scandal cable news ignored yesterday so they could talk about Anthony Wiener http://t.co/WjSqo4Gc7K pic.twitter.com/BfoU40tG0p

— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) July 25, 2013

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Uterus? C'mon in! RT @SarahPalinUSA: Govt: stay out of our garage, refrigerator, church, gun safe, etc.

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) July 25, 2013

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No, the House did NOT vote on an amendment to stop government spying http://t.co/YyCKQdM15T

— Smartypants (@Smartypants32) July 25, 2013

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This is IMPORTANT. If you are a TOD Twitterer, join and help President Obama. All hands on deck for 2014:

Like to tweet? Check out @OFA's new project Tweeting for Action and join in: http://t.co/436spqoHRE

— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) July 25, 2013

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Early Bird Chat

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