President Barack Obama greets troops during a rally at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 7, 2013. Photo by Pete Souza
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https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/629476672245334017
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All Times Eastern
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10:00AM: President Obama and Vice President Biden receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
4:35PM: The First Family departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base
4:50PM: The First Family departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Massachusetts
6:00PM: The First Family arrives Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station
6:20PM: The First Family arrives Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
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Justin Salhani: Why All The Arguments Against The Iran Deal Sound Familiar
President Obama invoked the memory of Iraq in his latest speech on the Iranian nuclear deal. “Now, when I ran for president eight years ago as a candidate who had opposed the decision to go to war in Iraq, I said that America didn’t just have to end that war,” Obama told a crowd at American University in Washington DC. “We had to end the mindset that got us there in the first place.”
As the president’s term winds down, the Iran deal will largely be what defines his foreign policy legacy just as Bush’s was defined by the 2003 Iraq invasion. Obama has taken flak from critics on his policies concerning Iraq and Syria, and while the Iran deal has also faced criticism from the right and Israel it has also found widespread support among former U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Israeli security chiefs.
More here
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Alice Ollstein: GOP Debate Spends Less Than A Minute On Police Violence And Black Lives Matter
Though the first GOP debate took place in Cleveland, a city rocked by police violence against its African American residents, only one candidate had to speak to the problem: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The Fox News moderators asked Walker how to address the problem of “overly aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans,” noting that some call it “the civil rights issue of our time.” Yet
Walker’s only response was advocating for proper training for law enforcement, particularly when it comes to use of force. He then called for showing those who step over the line that “there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same in America,” Wisconsin already had the some of the worst racial disparities in the country when he took office, but it has gotten much worse under his tenure. Soon after taking office, he defunded a program that tracked the race of people stopped by police, even though black residents of Madison’s Dane County were found to be 97 times more likely to go to jail for a drug crime than a white resident.
More here
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President Barack Obama listens during a health care reform meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Aug. 7, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
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WDH.com: Obama Heading For Martha’s Vineyard Vacation A Day Early
President Barack Obama is returning to his summer vacation spot of choice, the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, a day earlier than originally planned for more than two weeks of hoped-for rest. He is leaving the White House on Friday afternoon with his wife, Michelle, and teenage daughters Malia and Sasha, instead of on Saturday as initially planned. Last year, he was forced to break his self-imposed vacation silence several times and appear before news cameras to address political developments in Iraq, the beheading of American journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants and violent protests that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri,
following the fatal shooting of an unarmed, 18-year-old black man by a white police officer. He also returned to the White House in the middle of last year’s vacation. There are no plans for a similar trip before Obama returns to Washington on Aug. 23. The president heads to Martha’s Vineyard following a recent string of legal and legislative victories on trade, health care and gay marriage. Last month, he announced that the U.S. and five other world powers had reached a deal to grant Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
More here
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President Barack Obama talks with members of the 2012 Summer White House intern class before a group photo in the East Room of the White House, Aug. 7, 2012. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama gestures during a roundtable discussion with Hispanic print and web media in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Aug. 7, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama walks with Press Secretary Josh Earnest on the Colonnade prior to delivering a statement on Iraq in the State Dining Room of the White House, Aug. 7, 2014. Photo by Pete Souza
The Obama Diary 
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