Rise and Shine

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Monday: The President will host a meeting at the White House with business leaders to discuss the importance of common-sense immigration reform, including the Congressional Budget Office analysis that concludes that immigration reform would promote economic growth and reduce the deficit.

Tuesday: President Obama will speak at Georgetown University on the growing threat of climate change

Wednesday morning: The President and the First Family will depart for their trip to Africa. The trip will continue through the weekend, and the President and the First Lady will return July 2nd.

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Help keep up the momentum for comprehensive #ImmigrationReform. Add your name today: http://t.co/szxFABU7A9

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 21, 2013

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USA Today: Members of Congress will be in recess in August, but President Obama wants to make sure they hear from his supporters.

A pro-Obama organization said Friday that Obama will address an “Action August” summit designed “to plan for and discuss the action we will be taking during the August congressional recess in order to ensure that the voice of the people is heard and that Members of Congress are held accountable by those they represent.”

Organizing for Action said Obama will speak July 22 at “a working dinner with grass-roots leaders, volunteers, OFA founding members, campaign alumni and OFA staff to thank them for everything they are doing, but also to reaffirm that there is still so much left to do.”

Among the issues that OFA and Obama are pushing: an immigration bill, gun-control legislation and a new budget deal with higher taxes on the wealthy.

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Washington Post: Vice President Joe Biden is not letting the gun-control issue rest. At a speech in Las Vegas Friday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual meeting, Biden said that “at least five senators” who initially opposed background checks have sought him out for an opportunity to change their votes.

“We’re in an effort to see how we can provide another opportunity for the people who voted no” on universal background checks, which failed in the Senate in April. “That’s the hardest thing for a politician and we need to provide them a rationale. We will get to this eventually.”

More here

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The NSA story has exposed a real divide between the absolutist ideological fantasyland left and the real-world pragmatic left.

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 22, 2013

Still waiting for someone to document one single actual case of illegal wrongdoing revealed by Snowden and Greenwald. Just one.

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 22, 2013

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Bob Cesca: The NSA absolutely can not intentionally target U.S. citizens without an individual warrant. Even if you’re the most vocal Edward Snowden supporter in the universe, you have no choice but to acknowledge the truth and accuracy of this statement.

How can I say such a thing? On Thursday, Glenn Greenwald wrote it deep within his latest “bombshell” article for the Guardian: “To intentionally target either of those groups requires an individual warrant.” The “groups” Greenwald referred to here are U.S. persons or residents.

And there you go.

This is easily the biggest news to come out of Thursday’s dispatch …. not only does it totally decimate CNet’s journalistic blunder from last weekend …. it it also represents a striking clarification in Greenwald’s reporting, not to mention Snowden’s claims of being able to target any American including the president at his own discretion and without a warrant. The “requires an individual warrant” line isn’t the centerpiece of the article by any stretch. It’s tossed into the mix almost as a throwaway ….

More here

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The worse for Snowden, the better for Greenwald. RT ‏@Green_Footballs Greenwald will come out of this just fine. Snowden, not so much.

— Tom Hilton (@TVHilton) June 22, 2013

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Charles Johnson: Glenn Greenwald’s Latest Self-Debunking Non-Bombshell – Libertarian hyperventilation continues

Here we go again. Glenn Greenwald’s latest overheated, over-long, deliberately confusing piece claims to reveal: The Top Secret Rules That Allow NSA to Use US Data Without a Warrant.

….. keep digging through the turgid prose. Keep digging. Because eventually you get to this:

  FAA warrants are issued by the Fisa court for up to 12 months at a time, and authorise the collection of bulk information – some of which can include communications of US citizens, or people inside the US. To intentionally target either of those groups requires an individual warrant.

Wait a minute — did Glenn Greenwald just debunk his own exaggerated claims? Why yes, he did…..

More here

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Right thinks Obama is a tyrant/dictator; some on left want him to be one. I want him to keep on Presidenting. I think he does it pretty well

— john miller (@deaconmill) June 21, 2013

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TPM: Yahoo! News issued a correction Friday evening after a reporter mistakenly referred to Kenya as President Barack Obama’s birthplace.

A piece on Obama’s upcoming trip to Africa by Rachel Rose Hartman included a lede that echoed sentiments heard among the “birther” movement.

“President Barack Obama makes the first extended trip to Africa of his presidency next week — but he won’t be stopping in the country of his birth,” Hartman originally wrote.

More here

Hi there @YahooNews, instead of sneaking in corrections, how about firing your birther’s ass? H/T @rchakras pic.twitter.com/Qh89tWLLa6

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) June 21, 2013

@rachelrhartman ‘s birther post was a copy error like Deen’s use of N word was slip of tongue. At least Deen not supposed to be a journalist

— john miller (@deaconmill) June 22, 2013

The birther who said Obama was born in Kenya is the one who counted how many times Carney told the lazy WHPC which agency to go ask.

— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) June 22, 2013

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NYT: Paula Deen, the self-proclaimed queen of Southern cooking and a sugary mainstay of the Food Network, was dropped by the network on Friday, after a bewildering day in which she failed to show up for an interview on the “Today” show and then in two online videos begged her family and audience to forgive her for using racist language.

More here

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ThinkProgress: …. what was striking both about some of the accusations she faced, and her sworn testimony in the deposition, was that Deen seemed more afraid of getting caught out being racist or being accused of having caused offense than of the idea that she might have caused someone else pain…..

Deen’s desperate to be forgiven, which in this context means not facing a boycott or loss of business …. there’s no reason anyone should gratify her until she demonstrates that she’s making real efforts to become a different person and to establish a different environment in her businesses. Paula Deen isn’t entitled to our goodwill just because she wants it…..

More here

Rise and Shine

Four years ago today: “A temporary White House staffer, Carlton Philadelphia, brought his family to the Oval Office for a farewell photo with President Obama. Carlton’s son softly told the President he had just gotten a haircut like President Obama, and asked if he could feel the President’s head to see if it felt the same as his.” May 8, 2009. (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today:

10:15: VP Biden attends President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea’s address to a Joint Session of Congress

12:0: VP Biden delivers remarks at the 43rd Annual Washington Conference on the Americas at the Department of State

12:30: Jay Carney briefs the press

2:25: President Obama meets with electric utility CEOs and their trade associations

5:30: Meets with a group of Asian American and Pacific Islanders national leaders

6:30: Has dinner with members of the House Democratic Leadership at the Jefferson Hotel

7:45: VP Biden delivers keynote remarks at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ 19th Annual Gala Awards Dinner

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President Barack Obama and President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea, May 7. Photo: Pete Souza

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USA Today: …. The president starts this afternoon at the Energy Department, where he meets with electric utility CEOs and trade associations to talk about preparations for the upcoming hurricane season….

Later, Obama and Vice President Biden discuss budget issues with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Then comes a presidential meeting with a group of Asian American and Pacific Islanders national leaders. The agenda includes Obama’s efforts to win a major immigration bill and the ongoing implementation of the health care bill.

Obama caps his day with another congressional dinner, this one with House Democratic leaders. The dinner at a hotel in downtown Washington features House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal., and some of her colleagues: Steny Hoyer, James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra, Joe Crowley, Chris Van Hollen, Rosa DeLauro, Rob Andrew, Steve Israel, and Mike Thompson.

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TeaPartyCat

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Funny how those who called anybody who questioned Bush re 9/11 non-patriots are baying the loudest about Benghazi and say they are patriots.

— john miller (@deaconmill) May 6, 2013

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Rise and Shine

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Greg Sargent: “Senate Democrats believe that they have several new votes in favor of a bill that would expand background checks for gun buyers, after weeks in which those who opposed the legislation faced strong political backlash at home. One of these votes currently in play may be Senator Johnny Isakson, who sponsored a background check bill on the state level in Georgia. A gun control advocate who met with Senator Isakson today tells me that he said he is open to voting for Manchin-Toomey if and when it comes up again — and that he is in active talks with Senator Joe Manchin about the measure.

To be sure, this is very little grounds, by itself, for hoping for future passage of Manchin-Toomey. After all, Dems need to flip five senators to break the GOP filibuster. But it is clear that Dem leaders really do want to hold another vote, that conversations are continuing, and that a few senators may be open to changing their stance. This will only encourage the gun reform forces to keep up the pressure, which is key.

More here

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You should've seen the disciples faces when I turned water to weed. #figurethatoutscience

— Jesus Christ Edge Lord Parody & Savior (@Jesus_M_Christ) May 3, 2013

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Gomez (R-MA): "I demand Ed Markey stop reminding voters I'm the lying bastard who tried to swiftboat Obama in 2012. That's ancient history"

— Subscribe to Unprecedented on Ghost - no paywall! (@TheDailyEdge) May 7, 2013

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Dylan Matthews: Robert Rector and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation have made a splash by releasing a paper claiming that the immigration reform bill being weighed in the U.S. Senate will cost the government $5.3 trillion. Or, more precisely, that undocumented immigrants under current law will cost the government $1 trillion, and legalizing those immigrants will increase that to $6.3 trillion. Subtract one from the other and you get the $5.3 trillion total cost estimate.

So does the Heritage estimate hold up? Not really. They make a lot of curious methodological choices that cumulatively throw the study into question. It’s likely that immigrants would pay a lot more in taxes, and need a lot less in benefits, than Heritage assumes, and that other benefits would outweigh what costs remain. the best study we have on the fiscal effects of immigration reform, from the CBO, finds the impact to be minimal or positive. But the Heritage numbers simply are not credible.

More here

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GLOBE and AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Rise and Shine

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Brian Beutler: The least surprising news of the week is that getting dressed down at the White House correspondents dinner did nothing to persuade Maureen Dowd and other opinion makers that their fantastical depictions of presidential power are actually puerile and lazy. Less than a month after Republicans rejected Obama’s budget — Chained CPI and all — gauzy platitudes about leadership are back in vogue.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Jake Sherman reports that the very people Obama’s supposed to “lead” to a budget deal (or a deal on anything) are perhaps more dysfunctional and reactionary than at any point since they came to power.

More here

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TPM: President Obama is set to nominate Penny Pritzker as his administration’s next commerce secretary and Michael Froman as U.S. trade representative, according to a White House official. Obama is scheduled to announce the nominations at 10 a.m. ET Thursday at the White House before leaving for Mexico.

More here and here

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Today is the National Day Of Prayer, so bow your head and thank God for the Tea Party, which dresses up racism in a veil of Liberty.

— Top Conservative Cat (cat/cat) (@TeaPartyCat) May 2, 2013

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Michael Tomasky: I don’t mind being called an Obamabot. I mean, I’ve written a few columns about the guy that were brutal, toughing than anything Dowd’s written, especially at the time of the debt ceiling fiasco. But I understand the game, and it doesn’t bother me.

I have something I wish to make crystal clear, however. If it seems to you (I mean you, pumpkinface!) that I’m always excusing Obama, you’re misreading me. I am instead seeking to cast blame where it properly belongs. And that is almost always the Republican Party. I’ve said all this a jillion times before, but it is simply not a mainstream political party in the traditional American sense. It is a radical oppositionalist faction, way beyond the normal American parameters both in terms of ideology and tactics. And that needs to be pointed out, unfortunately, again and again and again.

More here

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If you think it's smart to destroy evidence for your terrorist friend, I am going to suggest to you that maybe you're not college material.

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) May 2, 2013

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Rise and Shine

POTUS brought down the house on Sat night at #WHCD – but he didn’t take questions. So, today he will. 10:15am in Brady Briefing Room.

— Jay Carney (EOP) (@PressSec) April 30, 2013

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Today:

10:15: President Obama holds a press conference

11:45: The President, the Vice President, the First Lady and Dr Jill Biden make a significant employment announcement for veterans and military spouses

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U.S. Sees First Debt Reduction Since 2007 as Revenue Rises bloom.bg/Zgutr7 via @bloombergnews @msnbc

— John (@johnd1967) April 29, 2013

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MarketWatch: In another sign of an improving deficit picture, the Treasury on Monday said it expects to pay off debt in the current quarter for the first time in six years.

In a statement, Treasury said it now expects to pay off $35 billion of debt in the April-to-June quarter, compared to an earlier projection, given in February, that it would have to borrow $103 billion.

This will be the first quarter that Treasury has paid off debt since April-to-June period 2007.

More here

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US home prices jump in February from a year ago by largest amount since May 2006: apne.ws/YjnLFr -RAS

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 30, 2013

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ThinkProgress: Over the last several days, the Syrian crisis has exploded back into the news. As the U.S. debates how to respond to the now two-year long struggle, here’s the what you need to know….

See here

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Don’t know where to go to vote? Find your polling location at wheredoivotema.com. Polls are open from 7a-8p! #markeygotv #masen #mapoli

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) April 30, 2013

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Rise and Shine

A year ago: President Obama tours the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., with Sara Bloomfield, museum director, and Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor, April 23, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today:

12:30: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney

2:15: The President honors the 2013 National Teacher of the Year

2:45: Meets with the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

6:30: Meets with a bipartisan group of women Senators for dinner

8:30: Vice President Biden Speaks at the Time 100 Dinner

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Peter Beinart: The rap against Barack Obama, at least on the left, has long been that he’s too cautious, too calculating, too conciliatory. Not a guy willing to take risks.

We can apologize now.

What Obama did in the four months between December’s Newtown shooting and this Wednesday’s Senate capitulation was one of the great displays of presidential guts in American history…..

…. [he] pursued gun control with a force of mind and soul that was astonishing to behold. “I never saw a president fight so hard,” remarked Sen. Barbara Boxer, “never on any issue.”

Why did he do it? In part because the Obama-as-timid meme was always a lie …. but beyond that, I suspect that once Obama saw an opportunity, he pushed gun control so hard because he simply cares more. As a community organizer, he worked and lived in the kind of communities where Americans are most often shot…

…. The gun control struggle will likely continue for decades. And this week its arc feels particularly long. But one day, a future president will look back at the last four months as the moment when Barack Obama began to make it bend.

Full post here

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An enemy combatant, according to Lindsey Graham, has no rights except the right to buy gun with no background check. bit.ly/17L26ER

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 23, 2013

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Steve Benen: As the debate over new measures to prevent gun violence reached its apex, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists became surprisingly hostile towards the family members of those slain in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. If there’s one group of people who would appear to be off-limits when it comes to political pushback, one might think it’d be Newtown families, but apparently not.

What’s next, cheap shots at Gabrielle Giffords? Actually, yes…..

Full post here

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This and That

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AP: Blocked by Congress from expanding gun sale background checks, President Barack Obama is turning to actions within his own power to keep people from buying a gun who are prohibited for mental health reasons.

Federal law bans certain mentally ill people from purchasing firearms, but not all states are providing data to stop the prohibited sales to the FBI’s background check system. A federal review last year found 17 states contributed fewer than 10 mental health records to the database, meaning many deemed by a judge to be a danger still could have access to guns.

The Obama administration was starting a process Friday aimed at removing barriers in health privacy laws that prevent some states from reporting information to the background check system…

More here

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In this photo provided by the Hern family, first lady Michelle Obama visits with Aaron Hern, his parents Alan and Katherine, and sister Abby, all of Martinez, Calif., at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, April 18. Aaron Hern, 11, was among those injured by one of the bomb blasts near the Boston Marathon finish line

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President Obama meets with Boston Athletic Association volunteers after attend the “Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service” at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross

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TPM: A teenager said he is scared to go outside after he was portrayed on the Internet and on the front page of the New York Post as connected to the deadly Boston Marathon bombings.

Photos of Salah Eddin Barhoum, 17, and friend Yassine Zaime were posted on websites whose users have been scouring marathon finish line photos for suspects. The two were also on the Post’s front Thursday with the headline: “Bag men: Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon.”

More here

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A tremendous and painful amount of attention has been cast on our beloved Sunil Tripathi in the past twelve hours…. fb.me/QDwDVwjg

— Finding Sunny (@findingsunny) April 19, 2013

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Oh, the media……. “how do you feel about America?’

The poor man:

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Reuters: The Boy Scouts of America called to end a long-standing ban on openly gay members, a spokesman said on Friday, but the organization’s board must still vote in May on whether to ratify the resolution.

If the vote is approved, “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone,” Deron Smith, the organization’s spokesman, told Reuters.

More here

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Don’t think I posted these two, apart from in the comments:

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More newsie stuff a little later

Rise and Shine: Toon Time

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Today:

The President has no scheduled public appearances

12:0: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney

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Rise and Shine

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Today (all times ET):

8:20 AM: President Obama and Michelle Obama depart the White House

9:55: Arrive in Boston

11:0: President Obama delivers remarks at Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service dedicated to those who were wounded or killed in Monday’s bombing. Michelle Obama also attends

2:55: Depart Boston

4:30: Arrive at the White House

5:30: President Obama hosts a reception for Greek Independence Day; VP Biden also attends

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Moms Demand Action

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“This was a pretty shameful day for Washington. But this effort isn’t over… I see this as just round one.” —President Obama

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 17, 2013

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Gabrielle Giffords: Senators say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms — a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.

More here

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President Obama’s statement on Senate vote

Text of the remarks here

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