President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey honor fallen soldiers at Arlington
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Pres Obama greets WW2 veteran, 107-yr-old retired Army Lt Col Luta Mae Cornelius McGrath http://t.co/qg5KlRs7Bo
First Lady Michelle Obama smiles as she is introduced by Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov before receiving an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio
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Maura Zurick: First Lady Michelle Obama Urges Oberlin College Graduates To Make A Difference
First Lady Michelle Obama told nearly 700 Oberlin College graduates Monday to wake up and “play your part in our great American story.” Obama urged the class of 2015 to volunteer for campaigns or “better yet, run for office yourselves.” She encouraged the graduates to not shy away from the clamor and polarization of the real world and told them to face the revolutions of their time: climate change, economic inequality, human rights and criminal justice reform. “Today, I want to urge you to actively seek out the most contentious, polarized, gridlocked places you can find,” she said in her 25-minute remarks to graduates, family members and spectators in Tappan Square.
“Because so often, throughout our history, those have been the places where progress really happens –- the places where minds are changed, lives transformed, where our great American story unfolds.” Zoe Madonna, an East Asian studies graduate, called the first lady brilliant. “This is going to be a story that I can tell 50 years from now about the time the first lady spoke at my graduation, and I really enjoyed that it wasn’t a pat-yourself-on-the-back speech,” Madonna said. “Usually when dignitaries come, they keep their real selves, real opinions quiet, but you could hear what she really thought, what she really wants for us shining through in her speech.”
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama announce a new government-wide coordinated strategy to help millions of girls around the world attend and stay school called “Let Girls Learn” in the East Room of the White House. Saying that she will focus on this program beyond her time in the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama will soon travel to Japan and Cambodia to promote the new initiative.
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White House: Working Together To Open The Doors Of Education For Girls Around The World
To educate a girl is to build a healthier family, a stronger community, and a brighter future. Unfortunately today, 62 million girls around the world are not in school. Half of them are adolescents. We know that countries with more girls in secondary school tend to have lower maternal mortality rates, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of HIV/AIDS, and better child nutrition. But too often, a girl who could change her world for the better is locked out of that future by the circumstances of her birth or the customs of her community. We know that a girl with an education can shape her own destiny, lift up her family, and transform her community.
That is why President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be championing our efforts to help adolescent girls around the globe attend and complete school through the Let Girls Learn initiative, which will build upon the public engagement campaign the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched last summer. Let Girls Learn is a government-wide effort that will leverage the investments we have made and success we have achieved in global primary school, and expand them to help adolescent girls complete their education. A key part of Let Girls Learn will be to encourage and support community-led solutions to reduce barriers that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education.
First Lady Michelle Obama playfully takes a bow as she is introduced by President Barack Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama playfully gestures as President Barack Obama makes a joke
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President Barack Obama makes a statement after meeting with the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and US Army General Martin Dempsey in the Oval Office. President Obama gave remarks on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address given during a joint meeting of the United States Congress.
President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel embrace during a farewell ceremony for Hagel at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia. Hagel is stepping down once his replacement, Ashton Carter, has been confirmed.
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"From sergeant to secretary, you’ve always been guided by one interest—what you believe is best for America." —President Obama on Hagel
President Obama shakes hands with military service members prior to a meeting with military senior leadership at the Pentagon on October 8
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President Barack Obama meets with senior military leadership at the Pentagon in Arlington (Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama participates in a conference call with state and local officials to discuss the Administration’s domestic preparedness response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, at the White House on October 8
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Text of Remarks by the President in Conference Call here
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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, President Obama and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey sit in a meeting with Military Senior Leadership at the Pentagon on October 8, 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. The President met with the military leaders for an update on the battle against ISIS.
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Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and President Obama greet members of the military after attending meetings with military leadership at the Pentagon
First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a Fashion Education Workshop at the White House. The workshop was to connect students with leading fashion professionals to show what to take to succeed in the fashion industry
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue magazine, after she was introduced by Wintour during a session of a Fashion Education Workshop
Fashion stylist Mary Alice Stephenson attends a session of a Fashion Education Workshop
First Lady Michelle Obama introduces Chelsea Chen, who won a design competition
Fashion designer Jason Wu applauds First Lady Michelle Obama as she hosts a luncheon and panel discussion
Fashion designer Phillip Lim takes a picture of First Lady Michelle Obama
Fashion designers Edward Wilkerson (L) and Thom Browne (R) applaud First Lady Michelle Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs fashion designer Naeem Khan during a fashion construction workshop session at the first ever Fashion Education Workshop in the State Dining Room at the White House
First Lady Michelle Obama talks with young fashion design students
First Lady Michelle Obama visits the “Wearable Technology” workshop. Wearable technology is the integration of technology with fashion, like boots that charges cellphone, bras that detect cancer, compression shirts that monitor and record your heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama observe a moment of silence on the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the White House in Washington.
President Barack Obama, flanked by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and Joint Chefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, speaks at the Pentagon, to mark the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
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President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey bow their heads during a moment of silence at the Pentagon
President Barack Obama places a wreath at the Tomb of the Unkowns at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day
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President Barack Obama speaks during Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia
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Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and President Barack Obama, stand as the National Anthem is played during a Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery
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David Jackson: President Obama Honors Veterans ‘Who Gave Their All’
President Obama on Monday honored all the Americans who have given their lives for their country, from the Civil War of a century-and-a-half ago to the Afghanistan war that is wrapping up this year. In Memorial Day remarks delivered a day after a surprise visit to Afghanistan, Obama said the U.S. troops there “are coming home” from the conflict that began a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “By the end of this year, our war in Afghanistan will finally come to an end,” Obama said during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. During his speech, Obama praised veterans from all the nation’s wars. “Everything that we hold precious in this country was made possible by Americans who gave their all,” Obama said.
"Let us never forget their service and always be worthy of the sacrifices made in our name." —President Obama #MemorialDay
The president delivered his Memorial Day speech just four hours after his return to the White House. During his Sunday trip to Afghanistan, Obama received a briefing from commanders at Bagram Air Force, spoke at a rally for the troops, and visited wounded warriors at the base hospital. Shortly after arriving back at the White House early Monday morning, Obama hosted a Memorial Day breakfast. Guests included senior members of the military leadership, as well as veterans’ and military families’ organizations. Obama then traveled to the Arlington cemetery, where he placed the traditional wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel bow their head in prayer during a ceremony on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia
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…
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.
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.
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.
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?”….
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:
The Obama Diary 
funniest. comment. ever.
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao arrive for a State Dinner honoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House
yardarm756: “Oh LORD, Mitch “The Turtle” McConnell just walked in the dinner with an Oriental lady. Is that legal in Kentucky?”
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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his wife Carole Geithner
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with her husband Paul
Singer James Taylor with his wife Caroline
U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey and his wife Deanie Dempsey
Chief Justice John Roberts with his wife Jane
Austan Goolsbee, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and his wife Robin
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her husband Steven Schultz
ABC News host Diane Sawyer
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao