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12:05 AM EST: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive in Johannesburg
4:0 AM EST: Attend memorial service for Nelson Mandela
1:05 PM EST: Depart Johannesburg
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The Nelson Mandela Memorial Service begins at 11:0 local time, 4:0 AM US EST
Live streaming here:
And here:
Also at White House Live
A South African girl, held by her mother, kisses a statue of former president Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, Dec. 9 (Twitter)
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12:05 AM EST: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive in Johannesburg
4:0 AM EST: Attend memorial service for Nelson Mandela
1:05 PM EST: Depart Johannesburg
****
The Nelson Mandela Memorial Service begins at 11:0 local time, 4:0 AM US EST
Live streaming here:
And here:
Also at White House Live
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Hoping the service will be shown everywhere, uninterrupted, but in case it’s not, try the links above.
Statement by the President
When I took office, the American auto industry – the heartbeat of American manufacturing – was on the verge of collapse. Two of the Big Three – GM and Chrysler – were on the brink of failure, threatening to take suppliers, distributors and entire communities down with them. In the midst of what was already the worst recession since the Great Depression, another one million Americans were in danger of losing their jobs.
As President, I refused to let that happen. I refused to walk away from American workers and an iconic American industry. But in exchange for rescuing and retooling GM and Chrysler with taxpayer dollars, we demanded responsibility and results. In 2011, we marked the end of an important chapter as Chrysler repaid every dime and more of what it owed the American taxpayers from the investment we made under my Administration’s watch. Today, we’re closing the book by selling the remaining shares of the federal government’s investment in General Motors. GM has now repaid every taxpayer dollar my Administration committed to its rescue, plus billions invested by the previous Administration.
Less than five years later, each of the Big Three automakers is now strong enough to stand on its own. They’re profitable for the first time in nearly a decade. The industry has added more than 372,000 new jobs – its strongest growth since the 1990s. Thanks to the workers on our assembly lines, some of the most high-tech, fuel-efficient cars in the world are once again designed, engineered, and built right here in America – and the rest of the world is buying more of them than ever before.
When things looked darkest for our most iconic industry, we bet on what was true: the ingenuity and resilience of the proud, hardworking men and women who make this country strong. Today, that bet has paid off. The American auto industry is back.
For our autoworkers and the communities that depend on them, the road we’ve taken these past five years has been a long and difficult one. But it’s one we’ve traveled together. And as long as there’s more work to do to restore opportunity and broad-based growth for all Americans, that’s what we’ll keep doing to reach the brighter days ahead.
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“Each of the Big Three automakers is now strong enough to stand on its own … The American auto industry is back.” —President Obama
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 9, 2013
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NYT: U.S. Sells Remaining Stake in General Motors
The Treasury Department announced on Monday that the government had sold its remaining shares of General Motors stock.
The government has thus exited one of the most controversial investments made during the midst of the financial crisis, when it stepped in to rescue the Detroit automakers – a decision that as many as three in four Americans opposed at the time.
Taxpayers recouped about $39 billion on the investment, the Treasury Department said, having spent about $50 billion bailing out the automaker.
All in all, taxpayers have ended up in the black on the crisis-related bailouts, Treasury said: It has recovered $433 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program after initially investing about $422 billion.
More here
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President Obama just saved the auto industry to distract from Obamacare.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) December 9, 2013
Continuous live coverage of events following the death of Nelson Mandela on South African channel SABC
President Obama peers out from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, June 30, 2013
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Chat away.
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Tuesday’s National Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela starts at 11 AM local time (4:0 AM US EST)
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USA Today: Obama expected to speak at Mandela memorial
President Obama will make remarks on Nelson Mandela’s legacy during a memorial service Tuesday for the late South African freedom fighter, officials said Monday.
…. The president and first lady Michelle Obama departed Monday for Johannesburg, where a Mandela memorial service will be held in a soccer stadium.
Obama, who will also spend time with the Mandela family, is not scheduled to hold any bilateral meetings with foreign leaders while in South Africa, Rhodes said.
…. Former president George W. Bush and wife Laura are aboard Air Force One with Obama. So is former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but former president Bill Clinton is traveling separately. Former president Jimmy Carter will also attend the Mandela memorial in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Vice President Biden will speak Wednesday at a special memorial service for Mandela to be held at the National Cathedral in Washington.
More here
An orphan from Orlando Children’s Home pays tribute to Nelson Mandela outside of his house on Vilakazi Street in Soweto, Dec 9
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Today:
The President and First Lady left for South Africa this morning (8:10 EST), don’t have the schedule yet for their time there, will post as soon as I do. According to Mark Knoller, the trip will take about 17 hours with a refueling stop.
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USA Today: Obama’s day: Off to South Africa
President Obama leaves Monday for what looks like a relatively quick trip to South Africa to honor the late Nelson Mandela. The president and first lady Michelle Obama are scheduled to attend a memorial service for Mandela in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
No other events have been announced for Obama, and he could be back at the White House as early as Wednesday.
Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura are expected to accompany the Obamas aboard Air Force One on the journey of more than 8,000 miles. Ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are expected to travel separately to South Africa for Mandela services.
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Word of warning to anti-Obamacare crazies – this is just the start of the flood of success stories you’ll be seeing http://t.co/Eek57LttZK
— Jon Carson OFA (@JonCarsonOFA) December 9, 2013
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NYT: Amid the Uproar Over the Health Law, Voices of Quiet Optimism and Relief
Since his chronic leukemia was diagnosed in 2010, Ray Acosta has paid dearly for health insurance: more than $800 a month in premiums, plus steep co-payments for the drug that helps keep him alive.
Mr. Acosta, 57, owns a small moving company in Sierra Vista, Ariz., which he said had barely made it through the recession. He was thinking about dropping his coverage, but the insurance company beat him to it, informing him recently that it would cancel his policy at year’s end.
He sought advice from an insurance agent who had used his moving company. She connected him with an application counselor at a community health center, who found — to Mr. Acosta’s astonishment — that he qualified for Medicaid under the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which gives states the option of expanding the program to include more low-income adults.
“I’m kind of in a disbelieving fog,” Mr. Acosta said last week, two days after completing an application. “I’m just hoping, keeping my fingers crossed, that this might really help me out.”
More here
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Maggie’s’ saving $183/mo thanks to #ACA Fight the negativity. #Obamacare #YourStory #G… http://t.co/atzj35IXN8 pic.twitter.com/gvmmiS9dMv
— ACA Success Stories (@ACASuccessStory) December 8, 2013
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National Journal: Is the Republican Advantage on Obamacare Eroding?
With HealthCare.gov finally working, Democrats are able to fight back in the Obamacare anecdote war.
The White House and its outside allies are already ramping up a massive effort to emphasize the personal stories of people getting coverage under the health care law — ground that Democrats were largely forced to concede to the GOP during the uproar over canceled insurance policies.
Collecting constituent stories has been a focus of the Republican strategy against the health law for several weeks. But now, with HealthCare.gov working better and enrollment beginning to surge, Democrats are prepared to launch a deluge of pro-Obamacare anecdotes as they try to promote enrollment and make a political sales pitch for the Affordable Care Act.
…. This week, Enroll America and some of its partner organizations — including Families USA and Planned Parenthood — is launching a major new initiative to highlight positive experiences of those enrolling in coverage. The push will involve a coordinated weekly theme that highlights stories of certain demographics.
More here
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Sandy and her daughter are insured again, thanks to #ACA! Fight the negativity. #Obama… http://t.co/atzj35IXN8 pic.twitter.com/txarTI9rS9
— ACA Success Stories (@ACASuccessStory) December 9, 2013
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The People’s View: Shocking: Obamacare Refuses to Kill Jobs
If the president had a tough November, he’s certainly making up for it this month. Not only has Healthcare.gov performing at peak efficiency, killing the GOP’s favorite anti-Obamacare doomsday talking point, today’s jobs report recorded the lowest unemployment rate since before President Obama took office, with 203,000 jobs created in November. Reports suggest that in the first two days of December alone, the national website enrolled Americans at the rate of nearly 15,000 a day, while 1.5 million Americans living in poverty have gained coverage under Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion – an advance blunted only by Republican governors’ and state legislators’ refusal to accept full federal funding to expand coverage.
This must be awkward for the Republicans (and for the Democrats of little faith who began to turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble with the website) – or, it would be if they had any shred of decency left. Their talking points against Obamacare are falling like flies. Not only have jobs been created in the private sector every single month since Obamacare was enacted, just as it is ready to go into full effect, unemployment dips to 7% and new jobless claims have fallen to below 300,000.
More here
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#ACA makes all of us success stories by reigning in insurance costs! Fight the negativ… http://t.co/atzj35IXN8 pic.twitter.com/hxLmHp71Kn
— ACA Success Stories (@ACASuccessStory) December 9, 2013
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TPM: Americans Discover They’re Trapped In GOP’s Medicaid Expansion Gap
With HealthCare.gov working better and the first deadline to sign up for health coverage that starts in January approaching, Obamacare’s so-called navigators — the people and organizations receiving federal funds to help people enroll — are seeing more and people come through the doors and out to their events.
…. with HealthCare.gov finally performing better, this has been their busiest time since the Oct. 1 launch. But in 25 states, that robust interest has a downside: Navigators are forced to tell more and more people that they probably won’t be able to get covered because their state, all of which had a GOP-controlled legislative chamber or governor, have refused to expand Medicaid. Lynne Thorp, who is overseeing the University of South Florida’s navigator program in that state, told TPM that about one in four people who contact her team fall into that Medicaid gap.
“Those are hardest phone calls because it doesn’t make any sense to them,” Thorp said. “We have to explain that they fall into this gap where this program can’t assist them.”
More here
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If your New Year’s resolution is health insurance, don’t forget this step: http://t.co/Ryi4F3mpbk
— OFA (@OFA) December 8, 2013
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A rare HP link…
Huffington Post: Top Georgia Democrat Fights To Prove Obamacare Can Overcome Deep South Resistance
For Democrats like Stacey Abrams, Georgia’s House minority leader, advocating for the Affordable Care Act in a strongly conservative state is a daunting task. Her Republican colleagues, who control the state legislature, are staunch opponents of the law, and Gov. Nathan Deal is one of 20 GOP governors who rejected the Medicaid expansion.
That alone would seem like enough for state Rep. Abrams and her Democratic colleagues to tackle, but it doesn’t end there. Last month, U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, another Georgia Republican, chaired a congressional oversight hearing in Gainesville during which a handful of cherry-picked witnesses spoke only of being harmed by the health care law.
….. But despite the litany of obstacles facing Obamacare in her state, Abrams said that Georgians are “hungry for information” on what the law means for them and how they can sign up. She has made it her mission to bring that directly to them, by leading events explaining the Affordable Care Act to people across Georgia, many of whom have spent decades waiting for access to health insurance.
More here
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Steve Benen: Obama warns of ‘unemployment cliff’ consequences
In just 19 days, federal emergency unemployment benefits will expire for 1.3 million struggling Americans, and in the hopes of raising the issue’s visibility, President Obama devoted his weekly address to the subject over the weekend.
…. The rhetoric certainly sounded compelling and had the added benefit of being accurate. But the decision isn’t up to Obama; it falls to Congress to approve an extension before the Dec. 28 deadline. And on Fox News yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul helped encapsulate why progress appears highly unlikely:
“I do support 26 weeks of unemployment that they’re paid for, if you extend it beyond that you do a disservice to these workers,” Paul said. Paul said that business surveys indicate a reluctance to hire workers who have been on unemployment insurance for lengthy periods.
Got that? Paul believes cutting off aid to jobless Americans during a period of high unemployment is doing those folks and their families a favor.
More here
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Your Bizarre Story of the Day:
Steve Benen: Chris Christie’s traffic jam?
There’s been a simmering controversy in New Jersey, which initially appeared a little too outlandish to take seriously. But late Friday afternoon, the story took an interesting turn:
A Port Authority official with close ties to Gov. Chris Christie is resigning after state lawmakers questioned whether lane closings on the George Washington Bridge that led to extensive traffic backups in September were politically motivated….
… It still seems hard to believe anyone would cause massive traffic jams as part of a petty, partisan dispute, but the questions raised thus far haven’t received reasonable answers. It’s a story worth keeping an eye on.
Full post here
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FUN FACT: At the same time he denounced Mandela as a “terrorist” Ronald Reagan ordered CIA to arm, train Osama Bin Laden & the Taliban #tcot
— SmartAmerica (@SmartAmerica) December 5, 2013
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On This Day:
Pete Souza: “The day we were leaving for Oslo, the President’s first meeting of the morning was with his speechwriting team. He said he had stayed up most of the night writing. I was surprised to see that he had handwritten the entire speech so I made a few close-up pictures as he went over the speech with his aides in the Oval Office.” Dec. 9, 2009
First Lady Michelle Obama reads “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama talks to Secret Service Uniformed Division officers as he walks through the magnetometer in the Northwest Gatehouse at the White House, following his visit to Blair House, Dec. 9, 2011. The President told a reporter as he exited the gatehouse, “I just wanted to see what it was like getting in here.” (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama, with mother-in-law Marian Robinson, daughters Sasha and Malia, and First Lady Michelle Obama, react as they push the button to light the National Christmas Tree during a ceremony on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2012 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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MoooOOOooorning!
On This Day: President Obama and his daughter Sasha watch the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, December 9, 2010
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MoooOOOooorning Early Birds, Happy Monday!
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