Rise and Shine

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Today:

2:30: President Obama departs Joint Base Andrews en route Camp David

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BREAKING: U.S. payrolls rise 195,000; unemployment rate stays at 7.6%

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) July 5, 2013

MORE: Revisions add combined 70,000 jobs for May, April

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) July 5, 2013

U.S. jobless rate holds close to four-year low | http://t.co/al4yzOAkAO

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) July 5, 2013

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Steve Benen: U.S. job growth improves, exceeds expectations

Going into this morning, most economists projected job growth from June to be about 155,000 new jobs. With this in mind, the new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows not only good news, but unexpectedly good news…..

The U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 195,000 jobs in June and employment gains for May and April were revised sharply higher, the U.S. government said Friday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.6%, but the size of the labor force increased by 177,000, according to the Labor Department said.

…. Perhaps the most important – and most heartening – detail in this new report is the upward revisions for the previous two months…

More here

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Best stock market and job growth since the 90s. We should raise taxes on the 1% every year?

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) July 5, 2013

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Business Insider: It’s a beat!

195K new private sector jobs was well ahead of the 165K new jobs that was expected.

More here

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In a statement probably typed up 4 months ago… RT @tackettdc: Glass half empty: Boehner says growth tepid, unemployment rate too high

— Duke (@DukeStJournal) July 5, 2013

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Ah, funny how this didn’t get much attention….

NYT: I.R.S. Scrutiny Went Beyond the Political

In 2010, a tiny Palestinian-rights group called Minnesota Break the Bonds applied to the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status. Two years and a lot of prodding later, the I.R.S. sent the group’s leaders a series of questions and requests almost identical to the ones it was sending to Tea Party groups at the time.

…. The controversy that erupted in May has focused on an ideological question: Were conservative groups singled out for special treatment based on their politics, or did the I.R.S. equally target liberal groups? But a closer look at the I.R.S. operation suggests that the problem was less about ideology and more about how a process instructing reviewers to “be on the lookout” for selected terms was applied to any group that mentioned certain words in its application.

More here

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ThinkProgress: What The Mainstream Media Misses About Texas’ Ongoing Abortion Battle

Over the past week, Texas has captured national attention with a dramatic show-down between a Republican-controlled legislature and thousands of reproductive health advocates…. but many of the narratives the media is crafting aren’t actually getting at the full scope of the story.

In addition to criminalizing abortion services after 20 weeks, the other provisions in Texas’ abortion proposals would impose harsh restrictions on abortion providers. By subjecting abortion clinics to new regulations that would force them to make expensive updates to their facilities — unnecessary measures that major medical groups, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, oppose — Texas’ bill would force 90 percent of the state’s clinics to close their doors. That would leave just five abortion clinics in the entire Lone Star State, which happens to be the second most populous state in the country.

…. And the real catch? Outside of the debate about abortion access after 20 weeks — even outside of the fight for abortion rights altogether — the “abortion clinics” in question are often providing health services that encompass much more than helping women terminate a pregnancy. Many of them also provide preventative care, family planning counseling, STD testing, and cancer screenings. And they offer those health services to Texans of both genders who are typically uninsured.

More here

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News Observer: Gov. Pat McCrory doled out handshakes and hailed parade-goers as he rode in this Rowan County town’s Fourth of July parade Thursday, but he wouldn’t say what he’d do about a controversial abortion bill if it reaches his desk.

That question has been on many minds in North Carolina this week, after the N.C. Senate Wednesday approved sweeping new rules that could limit abortions. The bill now goes to the N.C. House.

The legislation would require N.C. abortion clinics to meet tougher standards similar to those governing outpatient surgery clinics. As a result, critics say, it would effectively close the majority of the state’s 16 abortion clinics. It would also require doctors to be present when women take pills to induce abortions.

More here

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SERIOUSLY: Entire House #GOP leadership has signed pledge to put Koch Brothers ahead of the planet http://t.co/vEzJnoS44O #GOP #unAmerican

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) July 5, 2013

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Oh boy…..

Mediaite: Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, the Archbishop of Santo Domingo, was a little shocked when reporters switched from questioning him about the U.S.’s openly gay nominee for Ambassador to the Dominican Republic to the subject of the regional egg trade: “We go from faggots and lesbians to this?” he said, laughing. “We’re jumping to chickens now?”….

More here

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Woah – nice voice! Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey sings the National Anthem at the Washington Nationals versus Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park on July 4:

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#Obama #ShirtColorGate Shorter –> @TheObamaDiary pic.twitter.com/GNg3Xpi3iA

— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) July 5, 2013

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@TheObamaDiary SOLVED: Hawaiian Punch!

— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) July 5, 2013

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MooooOOOOoooorning!

PS:

I think it's spelled ASH pic.twitter.com/uK2Od4rwJe

— Kelly (@greeleygeek) July 5, 2013

greenwald’s guy

ThinkProgress: Following Barack Obama’s historic election in 2008, comedian Stephen Colbert declared that because our nation had just elected its first black president, “racism is over.” “We did it!” celebrated the comedian with a chyron reading “Racism: 1776-2008″.

Despite Colbert’s obvious satire, the “racism is over” meme has caught on with at least one Republican presidential candidate: former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.

ThinkProgress spoke with Johnson at a stop in West Palm Beach, FL. During a question about the Fair Labor Standards Act, Johnson abruptly shifted gears and declared that because “we elected a black president,” this shows that “we are colorblind” and “we’re not a discriminate (sic) nation”:

Unfortunately, racism is far from a historical relic in our society. A poll this month found that nearly half of Republicans in Mississippi want to ban interracial marriage … even this week, a Republican official in southern California circulated an email depicting President Obama as an ape. And Johnson’s assertion that “we clearly have shown” we don’t discriminate would be news to the nation’s 2.5 million Muslims who learned last month that they would be unwelcome in a Herman Cain presidency.

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Out.com: One of (Glenn Greenwald’s) hopes for 2012 is that candidates will emerge to take on the red and the blue teams – he is keeping an eye on Gary Johnson, a two-term Republican governor of New Mexico….

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So, Johnson’s ignorance (if that’s what it is) of people’s continuing experience of racism (including, needless to say, the President) isn’t a problem for Greenwald? He’s still the guy he wants elected to the White House? Interesting. Most real progressives, you would imagine, would be offended by the comments. Johnson, though, is on the same side as Greenwald in his latest pet project (Bradley Manning), so that’s okay.

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Rooted Cosmopolitan: According to the 2002 edition of the Almanac of American Politics, as governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson cut taxes on the rich while cutting social services for the poor. He tried to pluck money out of public schools and funnel it in to private school vouchers. He vetoed a minimum wage bill. He signed in to law a late-term abortion ban. He won’t affirm a belief in global warming, and says even if it is happening that the effects are exaggerated and too much money is being wasted on it. And he vetoed a bill that would have continued the collective bargaining rights of public employees. That’s right, without the bluster but apparently to the same intended effect he did the same thing to public employees in New Mexico that Scott Walker did in Wisconsin.

Johnson also opposes child labour laws (see here)

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More at The Reid Report (here and here)

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Hmm, and still Greenwald is worshipped by the Professional Left? Wow.

and you thought politico couldn’t get any worse?

Julie Mason with a very good buddy

I’m dumb enough to look at Politico occasionally, but usually just to check breaking news – honest. The last few days I’ve noticed a string of bitchy, sarky articles (most of them on trivial nonsense) by the same reporter on President Obama and his team – even sarkier and bitchier than you usually get from Politico.

So, I looked up this Julie Mason – what a surprise, she joined Politico from right-wing rag The Washington Examiner earlier this month! For those lucky enough never to have come upon the Examiner, it makes Politico read like The Communist Manifesto. Needless to say, it endorsed McCain in 2008 and has, with Mason’s help, been relentlessly attacking President Obama ever since.

Remember the President, ahead of the 2010 mid-terms, said: “It will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African Americans, Latinos and women, who powered our victory in 2008, stand together once again. It will be up to each of you to keep our nation moving forward.”

The headline on Mason’s piece in the Examiner? “Obama Disses White Guys.” Yeah, that’s what he was doing alright. 🙄

And Mason, in her shiny new job, is no less obsessed with race. Writing about the former deputy press secretary Bill Burton leaving the White House, she said: “But the departure of Burton, who is black, leaves Obama with an all-white press operation. Will Kevin Lewis re-join lower press?”

I wonder does Mason bring a calculator with her to the White House to count the ‘non-white’ faces? And is the only reason Kevin Lewis (White House director of African American media) might succeed Burton is that he is black?? Okay.

Her other obsession is the President’s “teleprompter dependency”. Seriously. He “relies on it probably more than he relies on Bill Daley”, she told us, treating us to her cutting edge and highly original right-wing wit. Zzzzzz.

Hey, great appointment Politico!

PS Which one interview of her career did she enjoy most? “Tom DeLay was a great interview – charming and a total character.” Too bad he charmed his way to a money laundering conviction, hey Julie?

the sunbed king

John Boehner on President Obama: “We get along fine. I’ll come in and he’ll say … Boehner, you’re almost as dark as me!”

goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaal!

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South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala scores the first goal of the World Cup against Mexico at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, June 11, 2010. The game finished 1-1.