****
Monday
The President will travel to New York City to deliver remarks at an event at Lehman College, launching the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a new nonprofit organization.
He will also tape an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” and participate in a couple of DNC events.
****
Tuesday
The President will host a Cinco de Mayo reception at the White House.
****
The President and First Lady before the 2010 Cinco de Mayo event (Photo by Pete Souza)
****
Wednesday
The President will attend meetings at the White House.
****
Thursday
The President will welcome the United States Air Force Academy football team to the White House to present them with the 2014 Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
In the afternoon, he will travel to Portland, Oregon where he’ll attend a DNC event. He will remain overnight in Oregon.
****
President Obama strikes the Heisman Trophy pose after he awarded the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the Air Force Academy football team in April 2012
****
Friday
In the morning, the President will attend an event at Nike headquarters to discuss how workers will benefit from progressive, high-standards trade agreements that would open up new markets and support high-quality jobs, both for Oregon small businesses and large companies like Nike.
Afterward, the President will travel to Watertown, South Dakota, to deliver the commencement address for the graduating class at Lake Area Technical Institute.
****
The Obama Diary 
Comment – I’m in!
It’s VeeeeeeeeeCeeeeeeeee!
You almost have the same effect on me as PBO. I grin every time I see you smiling in your avatar. 😉
Sunday Greetings to everyone! I’m especially cheered by PBO’s welcoming smile!
Hey Winner! 🙂
Hey winner’s southern sis! 😀 😀 What’s cooking, and how long before my portion gets Fed-exed to me? I’m somewhat hungry right now.
Morning/afternoon all on this glorious day in May.
Peeling potatoes as we speak, Jackie
*Teeheehee* while smh
Cannot figure out how you stumble onto these things ( at least this is a ‘respectable’ 2-piece that JackieG may not mind wearing for her sun bathing today).
🙂 🙂 You’re so hilarious:) Love you…I’m just sitting here LMAO!
I’m not laughing though DF, look how flat-chested my spud is!1!1!
Chips, you are a stinker. Not all the bikini potatoes in the world are getting me into one.
Meh, chicken 🙄
GM TOD! Thanks for the schedule, Chips!
“Over the weekend, the crew aboard the International Space Station raised eyebrows with their choice of movie: “Gravity,” the harrowing, Oscar-winning film about two astronauts fighting for their lives after their space shuttle is destroyed. Perhaps more newsworthy was the fact that the real-life astronauts were watching it on their new 65-inch screen. No, they didn’t have a TV shipped into orbit from Best Buy. It’s the first projection screen in space, specially designed for use on the ISS with material that rejects ambient light, maintains its form in zero gravity, and resists stains from floating pieces of food.
Paired with a 1080p laser projector, the screen, designed by Austin, Texas–based Screen Innovations, will be used for displaying data, video conferences and, yes, movie night. It’s also pretty compact: The whole thing can be rolled up into a tube that is only 2.5 inches in diameter. When astronauts want to watch a terrifying movie about people drifting through the cold, dark emptiness of space, they simply have to roll out the screen and clip the corners with specially designed bungee cords. Before it was shipped to the ISS earlier this month, they had to rely on 13-inch tablet-like displays. Now, astronauts finally get to watch things on a big screen.”
Wow, just Wow. Wonder when that will become available for us earth bound folks.
Amazing–a 65 inch screen in space. Talk about being immersed in a movie. Would love to hear their critique of the film itself. In the end I wondered if she was going to have as much trouble getting off that island as she did getting back to earth.
That is wild! I felt claustrophobic watching it on an IMAX screen. Couldn’t imagine watching it on a space station! Wow!
That projection screen though— holy moly! 🙂
“In an effort to bolster its commitment to sustainability, Adidas announced on Monday that it would begin developing materials out of plastic ocean waste to ultimately use in its products. In a press release, the iconic clothing corporation said it’s teaming up with the Parley for the Oceans, a group of artists, scientists, musicians, and designers dedicated to cleaning up the world’s oceans. Together, they plan on developing fibers made from plastic ocean waste that can be used in the manufacturing of clothing and potentially in shoes. In the short term, Adidas also pledged to phase out plastic bags at its 2,900 stores worldwide.
“By partnering with Parley for the Oceans, we’re contributing to a great environmental cause and co-creating new fabrics from ocean plastic waste that we’ll gradually and constantly integrate into our product,” Maria Culp, a spokesperson for Adidas, told ThinkProgress. According to a recent study in Science, between 5 and 13 million metric tons of plastic waste ended up in oceans in 2010 alone, an amount that’s expected to increase in the coming decades if waste disposal techniques aren’t improved. Another study estimated that the ocean has about 600 pieces of plastic in it per every person living on earth. Each ocean has its own massive whirlpool of plastic debris, but those patches only account for 1 percent of the plastic thought to be in oceans. No one really knows what happens to the other 99 percent — it might wash back to shore, it might breakdown into very small bits, or it might be eaten by fish and enter into the food chain….continued”
This is what all corporations should be doing. Looking to the future and not continuing with things as is.
Then best we consider the TPP.
Good for Adidas. Interesting to think that people will be wearing processed water bottles, diapers, and plastic bags.
“For nearly half a century, homeowners and utilities have mounted solar panels on rooftops and in massive generation projects in the desert. Much of that was only made economical because of tax breaks and subsidies, such as California’s Solar Initiative (the “CSI” or Million Solar Roof Initiative, as it is often called) and the federal Investment Tax Credit, which paid for as much as 50% of the costs. But solar is no longer a charity case, having grown up to outcompete conventional energy generation in many ways—which means there is a second wave of sun-powered opportunities coming that smart investors will want to ride. Not only has the cost of solar panels dropped from $150/watt in 1970 to 60 cents/watt today, but the industry that was jumpstarted by the early incentive programs also resulted in a dramatic drop in the “balance of system” costs (design, installation, electrical connections, etc). The installed cost of solar in 2007, when the CSI began, was nearly $10/watt of generating capacity. Today it’s down to just over $5/watt for residential and about $4/watt for utility scale projects.
Expressed another way, the average cost in the U.S. of generating energy from the sun is about $130 per megawatt hour compared to coal-fired generation at $147 and conventional natural gas generation at $128. Solar, installed where the energy is used, is also more efficient than large centralized generation where electrons must travel many miles over transmission lines, losing over 6% of the energy along the way, meaning the effect of every megawatt of solar is greater to the nation’s energy supply than conventional systems….continued”
Germany’s cost of producing solar energy has shrunk to about a third of the price households pay for power after the nation made developers compete for subsidies.Most bids to build large ground-mounted solar plants in the first solar auction came in at 9 euro cents (9.7 U.S. cents) to 10 euro cents a kilowatt-hour, Deputy Economy Minister Rainer Baake said. German retail consumers are paying on average 29.8 cents a kWh, according to Eurostat…..
…Germany introduced auctions to try to lower the cost of solar installations as it seeks to more than triple the share of its power consumption coming from renewables by the middle of the century. The Bundesnetzagentur regulator received 170 bids for more than the 150 megawatts it offered. It will auction off a further 350 megawatts this year, 400 megawatts next year and 300 megawatts in 2017…continued”
Thank you for ALL of this good news, LP:) Forward we go!
Thank you LP for always bringing such important great news to us. It’s with such great joy I pass them on.
That is very kind of you, Mtmarilyn 🙂
Le voilà – This Week @Interior!
Hi Ho Hi Ho, of to work I go ~ BIAB.
Enjoy the serenity within the service – may your spirit be enriched!
“Living creatures are often seen as the innocent victims of climate change. But some life forms are emerging as villains, partly to blame for the rising temperatures in the Artic. By releasing methane from newly thawed soil or by absorbing the sun’s heat and warming the ocean around them, tiny microbes and marine phytoplankton leave a significant mark on the Arctic environment – with a potentially global impact. Mette Svenning from the University of Tromsø in Norway and her team show that soil microbe communities become greenhouse gas factories as soon as the surrounding soil thaws….
They already knew that higher temperatures cause microbes in the Arctic soil to release methane – a greenhouse gas some 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide – at a faster rate as they feed on underground carbon stores. What they didn’t expect was just how effective they are at lower temperatures. Microbes from warmer climates grind to a virtual standstill at 4 °C, but their Arctic relatives continue producing methane at a quarter of the rate that they would at 27 °C. These temperatures are increasingly being reached during the longer summer seasons, so this could result in far greater methane emissions. With Arctic soils containing twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere, one estimate puts the impact of thawing permafrost in the same ballpark as global deforestation, and equivalent to a warming of 0.25 °C by the end of the century.”
lawd….are we already too late….scary
Morning all. Happy Sunday everyone. Very happy to see HZ’s post last night and Carol’s husband improvement. My ex-sister-in-law is a designer for Nike near Portland. Hope she gets to see the President. As warm as it is Chips, my “23” year old body won’t be sporting a bikini either. Just shorts and a tee shirt and latex gloves for picking up doggie poo. My iPad is only good for one post these days, so hope you all have a great day.
“latex gloves for picking up doggie poo”
😆 That’s as glamorous as it gets for me too, Jackie!
Jackie, I’m glad to see we are soul mates in the bikini department. There is a time in one’s life for bikinis and time for ‘not bikinis’ and the wise woman knows the difference.
Greetings everyone…
i had a great breakfast with my sister….interesting that after all these years we have begun to bond…..
the President begins his season of commencement addresses…there are two that rank very high for me…..
the Commencement for Notre Dame
the Commencement for Morehouse
Hiya Prettyfoot, same a bit with me, didn’t always get on too well with my sister, but as the years go by it’s waaaaay better. We probably just learn to let bygones be bygones? 🙂
i think that we have learned that those issues are not as important as they were in the past…sometimes we cannot even name what was the cause or how our disagreements may have started…i am 61…the oldest…my sister is 55…the 4th in line….i do enjoy what we call …our Sister Sundays…smilin…
Exactly right Prettyfoot, I think you just start to see the stuff that divided you as being pretty trivial in the scheme of things. Feels great to bond like that, nothing like having a sister as a good buddy 🙂
yes…smilin
Good morning/afternoon TOD! I am running late today after staying up til 2:00 am totally enthralled with the book “Michelle Obama: A Life” by Peter Slavin. I am nowhere close to finishing but found myself reading and re-reading various parts, and checking back to others. It is a true biography in the sense of being factual without the gossip mongering of so many other things written about the Obamas. Although not in “her’ words throughout, it very much reminds me of PBO’s first book, Dreams of My Father, in terms of focusing on her coming of age and trying to reconcile her elite education and status with her values from the time she grew up on the South Side. While Michelle did not interview for the book, the author uses many of her words and history from the speeches she has given over the years. I am up to the point where she has met Barack and is considering leaving the law firm to go to work for the City. Whatever else the rest of the book brings, it is worth the read for the history. I am even more impressed with our First Lady and Grandmother Robinson than I was before. It is amazing to me the degree of dedication and determination she demonstrated as a very young woman. I must admit at that age, I was much more in the Barack “party” mode and thus have an incredible appreciation for someone so focused at such a tender age. I have avoided many other books about this lovely couple, i.e., Jodi Kantor’s book, but am very glad I decided to read this one. I am trying to stay away from it today to get some things done, but will probably find another late night as I did last when I started this in the evening and then couldn’t put it down:-)
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. So glad the curfew has been lifted in Baltimore!
Thanks for the book review. I have wondered about this book. I have read so many on the President and his mother. This will be good to read on Michelle.
The author will be featured tonight on book tv’s : After Words at 9 PM
Thanks Linda! I’ve seen one short interview with him but will definitely tune in (or record).
No, Gov. (R) Hogan of Maryland, it’s not time to get Baltimore back to “normal.” Muted you when you hit that word, fool.
yeh I don’t expect anything helpful from him for this community. Just another republican who doesn’t & won’t give a damn.
Of course, I’m jaded – but I picked up on that right away. Sorry for you and all the other citizens of Baltimore.
He can go run off now.
Eek – to hear Michael (R) Steele on MSNBC talk about Gov. O’Malley’s very aggressive policing policies when he was Mayor. Down go Martin’s chances more.
Just sayin’
😀
😦 Poor thing! 🙂
Nailed it!
Hope all TODers are having a fun Sunday …
(since LP hasn’t posted it, already) 🙂
As for Gov Hogan ….
And, then there’s this ….
And, then there’s this for you to enjoy …. until a moderator frees the prior comment 🙂
bbl ….
😥 😥 😥
GA, Bob!!! I was terrified of the WP moderator last night and mentioned it, but only posted USA beating Usain Bolt and Jamaica in the 4×100 relay for the 1rst time in eight years: http://theobamadiary.com/2015/05/02/tweets-of-the-day-23/#comment-1318208
😀
So much for Baltimore….it’s time for the MSM to concentrate on the naming of the Princess and what her mother wore on being discharged from the hospital……..and Oooooo how good she looked!
hello Yard….
that is why activists like @delray are so important…he and the other activists keep our eyes on the prize …after the MSM wraps up….and often before they even know what is happening…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/03/tel-aviv-protest_n_7199466.html?utm_campaign=naytev&utm_content=554663e3e4b0c1c20b381a7a&fb_ref=Default
protests against racial discrimination in Israel
Don’t use twitter enough. That was what I was trying to post. Thanks.
Every time I see a picture of the President laughing and/or smiling…..I know why the RWNJs dislike him so much (and other idiots) They hate to see him happy and enjoying life. They want to see him beaten down and defeated…..what they have tried to hard to do, and he just won’t cooperate with them…….His smile just lights the world!
THISSS…
I am so grateful for his spirit
Dudette, I thought I was going to have ISS withdrawals when Chris Hadfield left….but the current crew has been a joy!
…a little throw back 🙂
ohhh…..May the Creator have mercy on him
The hyper police violence that seems to be getting worse is connected to a white backlash that, U.S. historians remind us, always accompanies the fear of power shifts in America.
Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and George White understood this about lynching. We are living through a similar power shift today.
Many believe police brutality and violence against unarmed blacks is a perverted political act. Such acts have been condoned and rationalized by a dual system of justice. It is wrong to think of them as an isolated, individual act of violence. State terror is the proper term for acts that “put a community in its place”. We must therefore deal with the system’s sickness.
– See more at: http://www.redletterchristians.org/o-say-can-you-see-a-way-forward-after-baltimore/#sthash.SteISrkQ.dpuf
A long snapper from Navy was drafted yesterday as well…
I DO NOT BELIEVE THE PRESIDENT SHOULD VETO ANY MOVES TO RELEASE ABEDINI…IF WE CAN’T STAND UP TO THE IRANIANS ON PRISONERS THEY HOLD AND TORTURE…SCREW THEM….!!!!! THE U.S. CAN TOSS THEM A BIG ONE BEFORE THEY EVEN TURN THE LIGHTS ON…I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF BOWING TO THOSE ASSHOLES!
The US is still maintaining Guantanamo (despite President Obama’s best efforts), and other “black sites” around the world, which are known to have committed torture. I’m not sure the US can actually dictate to anyone about prisoners and torture – quite honestly. And just look at what’s going on in the streets of the good ol’ USA…
Race riots in Israel ?
They are using water cannons and flash grenades. On MSNBC
My god…..this all started when a video surfaced showing police beating an Ethiopian IDF soldier
Suspect Named in Shooting of Cornelius Police Lieutenant ……… by Marvin Beach
CORNELIUS, NC – Cornelius Police have named the suspect accused of shooting a Police Lieutenant Saturday morning.
Investigators say 16-year-old Grayson Ferrell shot Lt. James Quattlebalm in the stomach.
“He was ranting and raving, yelling at the officers, cursing at them, all kinds of stuff,” says next door neighbor John Roeder.
Police responded to a domestic dispute on Coachman’s Trace Drive around 11:45 Saturday morning. Neighbors say they had been hearing arguments between several family members since Friday afternoon.
………………………………. //
http://www.wccbcharlotte.com/news/local/Suspect-Named-in-Shooting-of-Cornelius-Police-Lieutenant–302336211.html
So they didn’t like his t-shirt. So, they believe that justifies an arrest.
I don’t know that’s such a good idea, SoS Kerry…
What Can We Do?
Leonard Pitts is going to start writing a series of columns to answer the question posed to him by a 55 year-old white woman from Austin, TX who said she was heartsick about the police violence against unarmed African Americans and wanted to know what she could do. Today he reports what Rev. Tony Lee said in response.
……………………………………..
That’s related specifically to the state of Maryland. To find out where your state stands on felony voting rights, the ACLU has a great map. Go check it out.
But there is something even more basic that needs to be done to empower ex-felons – who happen to be disproportionately black. They need jobs. As I’ve discussed previously……………………..
……………………………………….
If you want to know what you can do to start the process of change…getting involved in any of these efforts would be a good place to start.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.ca/2015/05/what-can-we-do.html
Link for ACLU map of State Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws
https://www.aclu.org/map/map-state-criminal-disfranchisement-laws
LP’s new post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/05/03/the-week-in-toons-14/
Been watching some performances from this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Cultural Festival. Just saw a rocking performance by Widespread Panic that included some fabulous Mardi Gras Indians. Lenny Kravitz performing later.
https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/594989691264438272..
Never paid much attention to Bernie Sanders…