“The Chief of all Chiefs is here”

President Obama interacts with children while flanked by First Lady Michelle Obama and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman David Archambault II during the Cannon Ball Flag Day celebration at the Cannon Ball Powwow Grounds on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota

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Man in the crowd: “We love Michelle too!” Pres. Obama smiles: “Of course you love Michelle. Who doesn’t love Michelle?” #PrezRezVisit

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) June 13, 2014

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Crowd to President Obama: “We love you President Obama! You’re our hero!!!!” President Obama: “I love you back!” #PrezRezVisit

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) June 13, 2014

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Native American leader to POTUS & FLOTUS: “This gift represents love and appreciation that my people have for great leaders” #PrezRezVisit

— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) June 13, 2014

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A Native American dancer takes a selfie with President Obama on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation #PrezRezVisit pic.twitter.com/W19txO1MT2

— Team Barack Obama (@TeamBarackObama) June 13, 2014

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The President and First Lady are loving every moment of this, magical. pic.twitter.com/NU2BSLQO4o

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) June 13, 2014

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My grandparents’ generation got beat for speaking Lakota. Those Lakota kids just sang in Lakota for POTUS and FLOTUS #PrezRezVisit

— Frank Waln (@FrankWaln) June 13, 2014

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Banned from our language and today, POTUS was speaking the language. Amazing. Progress. #Indigenous #PrezRezVisit

— Jett (@peacelovenstars) June 13, 2014

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More in the next post

“inaction tears at our conscience”

“I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.”

President Barack Obama in his Nobel Lecture in the Oslo City Hall, 10 December 2009

BBC: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution authorising “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in Libya from pro-Gaddafi forces. The resolution expressed grave concern at the deteriorating situation, the escalation of violence, and the heavy civilian casualties…the widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity…

doing the right thing. again.

Washington Post: The Obama administration rescinded most of a federal regulation Friday designed to protect health workers who refuse to provide care they find objectionable on personal or religious grounds.

The Health and Human Services Department eliminated nearly the entire rule put into effect by the administration of President George W. Bush during his final days in office that was widely interpreted as allowing such workers to opt out of a broad range of medical services, such as providing the emergency contraceptive Plan B, treating gay men and lesbians and prescribing birth control to single women.

Calling the Bush-era rule “unclear and potentially overbroad in scope,” the new, much narrower version essentially leaves in place only long-standing federal protections for workers who object to performing abortions or sterilizations. It also retains the Bush rule’s formal process for workers to file complaints.

…The new regulation, which goes into effect in 30 days, also ensures that no federal money can be used to “support coercive or discriminatory policies or practices in violation of federal law.”

The Bush regulation, if enforced, would have cut off federal funding for thousands of entities, including state and local governments, hospitals, health plans and clinics, if they did not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists or other employees who refused to participate in care they felt violated their personal, moral or religious beliefs.

The rule was sought by conservative groups, which argued that workers were increasingly being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways for trying to exercise their “right of conscience.”…

Full article here