The President’s Day

President Barack Obama greets Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom prior to a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, Jan. 16, 2015 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama meets with PM Cameron at the Oval Office. The two leaders discussed bilateral issues including economic growth, international trade, cybersecurity, Iran, ISIL, counterterrorism, Ebola, and Russia’s actions in Ukraine

President Obama and PM Cameron participate in a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House

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President Obama is asked a question about Romney running for a third time by ABC’s Jon Karl

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A Tweet Or Two

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BREAKING: Watch President Obama announce new steps to help more Americans access #BetterBroadband → http://t.co/JD74w0fpzG

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 13, 2015

BREAKING: President Obama has a plan to make your Internet go much faster. #betterbroadband http://t.co/vA18YsVibz pic.twitter.com/KDRPsJ8G7Z

— Upworthy (@Upworthy) January 13, 2015

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This is a #CharlieHebdo pic making fun of #BringBackOurGirls kidnapped by #BokoHaram and depicted as welfare queens. pic.twitter.com/Y3hXyfL3XP

— The Black Goonie, CFColemanJr (@CFColemanJr) January 13, 2015

Boko Haram massacres hundreds each week. @AsafRonel asks: Where is the West’s outrage? http://t.co/pUJdk9IZfO pic.twitter.com/d9lxxHyY3o

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) January 13, 2015

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Free speech cannot be used as a license to ridicule other cultures or as a shield for xenophobia. I am NOT Charlie. #CharlieHebdo

— The Black Goonie, CFColemanJr (@CFColemanJr) January 13, 2015

https://twitter.com/Luvvie/status/555028103899009025

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#CharlieHebdo depicting kidnapped Nigerian girls as welfare queens. I'm definitely not Charlie. (H/T @CFColemanJr) pic.twitter.com/sY3Wbv7x3P

— 🤌🏾 Imani Gandy 👆🏾 (@AngryBlackLady) January 13, 2015

they're not just addressing the terrorists. They're addressing a billion people who are members of a demonized religion. @dylanllyr

— 🤌🏾 Imani Gandy 👆🏾 (@AngryBlackLady) January 13, 2015

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On Charlie Hebdo, Satire, And The Thin Line

Joe Sacco

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My thoughts have been in a roil since the Charlie Hebdo attack, and the subsequent murder of shoppers in a kosher supermarket.

As a card-carrying librarian, my professional DNA says that I’m a free speech absolutist.

But, also as a card carrying librarian, I have reason and common sense to guide me. And in life there are no absolutes.

The cartoonists working for Charlie Hebdo did not deserve to die. In a pluralistic democracy, no one should die for words or images. I can say categorically that the murders were unconscionable and without justification. It’s a truism of life that you’ll be offended, repeatedly. And violence is never an acceptable response.

But the elevation of Charlie Hebdo to some bastion of free speech troubles me.

The President’s Day

Children wave at President Barack Obama’s motorcade as he visits Phoenix on Jan. 8

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People wait in line to get into Central High School in Phoenix to see President Obama speak

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President Barack Obama speaks about housing and home ownership and announces a cut in mortgage insurance premiums on Federal Housing Administration loans, at Central High School in Phoenix

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President Obama, joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro speaks outside a home in a housing development in Phoenix

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BREAKING: Watch President Obama announce his #FreeCommunityCollege proposal → http://t.co/em1ANYOOKA https://t.co/hRwDmqP1Eu

— David Simas (NARA) (@Simas44) January 8, 2015

RT to share the news: President Obama just announced his #FreeCommunityCollege proposal → http://t.co/8YTKdPKa7U pic.twitter.com/ORNWhcMAYt

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 8, 2015

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President Obama, joined by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, left, and Chicanos Por La Causa’s Edmundo Hidalgo, right, and David Adame, speaks outside a home in a housing development in Phoenix

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The FHA reduction in premiums will help borrowers save an average of $900 annually over the next three years. pic.twitter.com/B728Oz9RfL

— Julián Castro (@SecretaryCastro) January 8, 2015

American home values have gone ↑ for 3 years.
See how President Obama's helping homeowners: http://t.co/sNHmJ4hovZ pic.twitter.com/iR8ocEkxOX

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 8, 2015

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(Doug Mills)

A woman is surprised when she runs into President Barack Obama in her neighborhood

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"Today, home sales are up nearly 50% from where they were in the worst of the crisis." —President #ObamaInPhoenix pic.twitter.com/bmJTRzlCc9

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 8, 2015

"I’m going to take a new action to help even more responsible families...buy their first new home." —#ObamaInPhoenix pic.twitter.com/uimNuUIeYH

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) January 8, 2015

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@dougmillsnyt: President Obama board Air Force One in AZ, for his trip back the Washington.

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President Barack Obama signs a condolences book during a visit to the French Embassy

President Obama stands with France’s Ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud as he pays his respects over the attack at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, during a visit to the French Embassy in Washington

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House. President Obama met with Vice President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and spoke on the gunmen attack at the office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.

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President Barack Obama approaches Marine One on the snow covered South Lawn prior to his departure from the White House

President Barack Obama, accompanied by 89th Airlift Wing Commander Col. John Millard, smiles as they walk on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

President Barack Obama, followed by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich and Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., as they arrive on Air Force One at Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport in Detroit

President Barack Obama speaks at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., about the resurgent American automotive and manufacturing sector

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Ford plant manager, Phillip Calhoun, President Barack Obama, Mark Fields, president and CEO of Ford, and Bill Ford eye a new mustang at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant