The time Barack Obama tracked down Dave McKenna at a coffee shop: deadsp.in/6Gez42Q https://t.co/vFSMHWd1TS
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(@Deadspin) June 06, 2018Posts Tagged ‘Jay Carney
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Jun
18
President Obama Is A Good Man
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Jul
14
Rise and Shine
On This Day: First Lady Michelle Obama salutes during the singing of the national anthem at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., July 31, 2009
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Today (All Times Eastern)
10:55: The President meets with members of Congress on foreign policy, Cabinet Room
12:0: White House press briefing
1:20: The President delivers remarks and signs an executive order on workplace safety, South Court Auditorium
3:40: Delivers remarks, Department of Housing and Urban Development
7:25: The President and First Lady host ‘A Celebration of Special Olympics and A Unified Generation’, East Room
8:25: Attend a concert commemorating the Special Olympics, State Dining Room
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Send your best wishes for President Obama’s birthday: http://t.co/vVzTWKe8UF pic.twitter.com/qcX5C2JH2w
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 30, 2014
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Times Colonist: Obama To Sign Executive Order Cracking Down On Labor Violations By Federal Contractors
President Barack Obama is preparing to sign an executive order cracking down on labour violations by companies that contract with the federal government, the White House said Wednesday. Obama’s order will require companies seeking federal contracts valued at more than $500,000 to make public any labour law violations in the last three years, a step the Obama administration hopes will incentivize companies to resolve labour disputes such as back wage claims.
Federal agencies will be given more guidance on how labour violations should factor into their decision-making as they award lucrative contracts, officials said, with an eye toward pushing the most egregious violators into remediation agreements before new contracts are granted. Under the order, workers will also be given information each pay period to allow them to determine whether their paychecks are accurate.
More here
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Spandan Chakrabarti: BFD: “Incompetent” Black Man Leads US Economy To Solid, Sustained Growth
The economy grew at a strong 4% rate in the second quarter of 2014, outpacing analyst estimates by almost a full point. The news that is even more encouraging than the topline GDP growth number is where it came from: consumer spending, business investment, and exports. Consumer spending growth doubled since the first quarter, business investment growth grew by more than a factor of 3, and exports saw a near-20-point swing. The reason these particular numbers are so encouraging is that they all point to strong jobs growth.
In an economy that is 2/3rds consumer spending, growth in that area is the predominant factor in creating demand, and therefore, jobs. We have come here in less than six short years after the greatest economic calamity this country has ever seen, save for one. We have arrived here not only without creating a war bubble but while actually deflating the war bubble by ending wars. This is because while nearly everyone else has been busy trying to generate clicks, the President has worked day and night to generate jobs. This is because while the media has been busy looking for poutrage, this president has used his blood, sweat and tears to look for solutions.
More here
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Somini Sengupta: U.N. Says ‘Evidence’ Points To Israel In Gaza School Attack
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that “all available evidence” suggested that Israeli artillery had hit a United Nations school in Gaza full of civilians who thought they were in a safe zone. “Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children,” the secretary general told reporters in San Jose, Costa Rica, according to a transcript provided by his office.
It was Mr. Ban’s strongest comments to date on attacks on United Nations installations in Gaza, where Palestinians have been taking shelter. Six United Nations staff members have been killed in the current conflict so far. United Nations officials said that they had informed Israel 17 times of the precise location of the school and that there were civilians sheltering there, including once at 8:50 p.m., just hours before the attack on Wednesday.
More here
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Yuck Todd. He’s gotta go! #maddow pic.twitter.com/OFcJasqair
— Patricia Linna (@patricia_linna) July 31, 2014
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SmartyPants: Chuck Todd Is Finally Embarrassed
Oh…so I see that Chuck Todd is finally embarrassed by Washington because of all the impeachment talk. I have a few questions for Mr. Todd:
Were you embarrassed by the fact that our first African American President was required to produce a birth certificate?
Were you embarrassed when Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie” to President Obama during a SOTU speech?
More here
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You could see the last tiny wisp of John McCain’s soul escape from its withered husk and drift up towards the light. http://t.co/fg580zPjF7
— Jim Wright (@Stonekettle) July 31, 2014
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Justin Wolfers: What Debate? Economists Agree The Stimulus Lifted The Economy
Here’s a simple case study making the point that our political debates about economics have become largely unhinged from those among actual economists. Take the Obama stimulus plan, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. If you took your cues from the political rhetoric in Washington — or even from the occasional virulent debate in the economics blogosphere — you would think the whole question of fiscal stimulus is highly contested. But it’s not. There’s widespread agreement among economists that the stimulus act has helped boost the economy. The Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago — hardly a hotbed of liberal or Keynesian thought — regularly surveys a number of the leading American economists about a variety of policy issues.
Recently each of these eminent economists was asked whether the unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2010 than it would have been without the stimulus bill. Of the 44 economists surveyed, 37 responded, yielding a healthy response rate of 84 percent. Among those who responded, 36 agreed that the stimulus bill had lowered the unemployment rate, while one disagreed. That lone disagreeing economist, Harvard’s Alberto Alesina (who was one of my thesis advisers), has been a virulent opponent of the stimulus, although the research that he’s based this upon has come under sustained criticism, particularly from the International Monetary Fund, which views the study as flawed.
More here
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Sahil Kapur: House Votes To Sue President For The First Time In History
House Republicans officially gave Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) their seal of approval on Wednesday to sue President Barack Obama, marking the first time in U.S. history that a chamber of Congress has endorsed a lawsuit against a president. The House adopted the resolution by a vote of 225-201. Five Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic conference to vote against the measure. They were Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Walter Jones (R-NC), Paul Broun (R-GA), Steve Stockman (R-TX) and Scott Garrett (R-NJ). The resolution authorizes Boehner to challenge Obama in court for exceeding his authority by unilaterally delaying deadlines under Obamacare.
Although he has said he’ll target the one-year delay of the health care reform law’s employer mandate penalties, the text of the GOP resolution gives the Speaker room to legally challenge implementation tweaks to other provisions of the law. It’s a politically awkward one for his party given that Republicans despise the employer mandate, and have voted to eliminate and delay it. “Republicans want to sue the president for not enforcing a law they want to repeal,” said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD). “It is wrong. It is a waste of time. It is a waste of money. It is a distraction from the important issues so important to our people. This lawsuit is nothing more than a partisan bill to rally the Republican base.”
More here
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UN shelters should be safe zones, not combat zones. RT if you agree & see more updates here: http://t.co/gGuWpvxlzB pic.twitter.com/1b5cDJJYQG
— United Nations (@UN) July 30, 2014
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Middle East politics are complex. This is simpler: Children should not be killed. Whatever will stop more children from dying, I’m for.
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 31, 2014
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Jesse Rosenfeld: Israel Is Minting The Next Generation Of Hate
The bombs continue falling, more and more people are running for their lives with fewer places to go and as the screams from beneath the wreckage of Israel’s assault become more frequent, a generation of Gaza’s children are being shaped by what they see. And yet, as kids often do, they can still surprise you. Inside a Gaza City UNRWA school that’s been turned into a shelter, children pack the courtyard. Ten-year-old Yasmine al Attar stares at me from under her dark curled bangs. Yasmine’s aunt, Hula al Attar, tells me her son can’t sleep amid the nightly air strikes. Instead he howls and shakes.
“My 11-year-old son saw bodies in the street in the [2008] war and he still can’t forget those images,” says the veiled 29-year-old mother. Yasmine speaks up. She tells me she can’t sleep either, and waits out the attacks by clinging to her mother in a corner classroom. I ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. “I don’t know if I will live,” she says flatly. When pressed for what she would like to be if she does survive, she becomes excited thinking about the possibilities. “I’ll be a doctor,” she says at first. Then she changes her mind. “I’ll be a journalist,” she says, pulling on her brown curls. “I just want to do something that helps people and tells the world what’s happening.”
More here
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Josh Marshall: The Wealth Gap Across Race, Gender And Marriage Status
The chart illustrates a pattern that most of us probably do not find surprising. But the sheer chasm separating single white men from Black and Hispanic single women is still shocking to see visualized so clearly. Single white men have 438 times the assets as single Black women and 365 times that of single Hispanic women. As we can see, marriage is a huge determinant of wealth – but mainly if you’re not white, and especially if you’re a woman.
“The President is not going to back away from his efforts…to solve problems & help American families” —@Pfeiffer44: http://t.co/FsgJfPEISF
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 31, 2014
As the report notes, owning a car is an important way to access more employment opportunities among other things. But that wealth is not easily accessible in dollar terms, which is highly relevant for the following reason. Great disparities of wealth not only have a huge impact on life opportunities and the prospects for wealth accumulation. They are hugely important factor in the precariousness of economic life experienced by different demographic groups.
More here
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On This Day
President Obama talks with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel outside of the Oval Office on July 31, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Tanya Lewis: Obama Gets First 3D-Printed Presidential Portrait
To his list of firsts, Barack Obama can add that he was the first U.S. President to have himself scanned and 3D printed. Obama’s 3D-printed bust and mold of his face were on display Wednesday (June 18) at the first-ever White House Maker Faire, a celebration of students and entrepreneurs who are using technology to create new products and businesses, according to the Smithsonian Institution. A team of Smithsonian 3D digital-imaging specialists scanned the president earlier this year. They used the University of Southern California’s Light Stage face scanner to capture Obama’s face in high resolution,
and handheld 3D scanners and SLR cameras to create a reconstruction of his bust. Next, experts in 3D graphics at the software company Autodesk produced high-resolution models, which were printed using 3D Systems’ selective laser sintering printers. The scans and printed models will become part of a collection at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which showcases multiple images of each president. The 3D portraits will be added to the museum’s current collection of works representing Obama.
More here
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Zot! Zot! Zot!
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Press Secretary Jay Carney’s choice of song on his last briefing day. Very telling and apt lyrics here. 😉
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Thanks for everything, @PressSec! Enjoy your new podium at @JayCarney. http://t.co/G7sMjF5UyB
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 20, 2014****
After nearly 3 1/2 years tweeting from @PressSec, I'm venturing out on my own. Thanks for following! - jc
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Jay Carney (@JayCarney) June 20, 2014****
Pete Souza: Pres Obama looks on as departing WH Press Secretary opens a gift from him this evening
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Jun
14
Rise and Shine
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Today (All Times Eastern)
10:0: Live from the First White House Makers Faire
10:45: President Obama views “Maker Faire” projects devoted to using science and technology to advance business, South Lawn
11:30: Delivers remarks at the White House Maker Faire, East Room
12:15: Meets with economists for lunch, Roosevelt Room
12:45: Jay Carney briefs the press
3:0: The President meets with members of the Congressional Leadership
5:10: Meets with Secretary of State Kerry
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President Barack Obama and Press Secretary Jay Carney disembark from Air Force One upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Wednesday night, June 17, 2014. It was Carney’s last flight on Air Force One as White House Press Secretary. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Week Ahead
Thursday: The President will award Corporal William “Kyle” Carpenter, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry.
Friday: The President will meet with Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand.
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President Obama speaks at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) fundraiser gala in Gotham Hall, Tuesday, June 17
You can see a video of the President’s remarks here
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Save the date: The White House Summit on #WorkingFamilies is this Monday, June 23. ofa.bo/bri http://t.co/mEdDyYFphT
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Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 17, 2014****
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NYT: Obama Is Said To Consider Selective Airstrikes On Sunni Militants
President Obama is considering a targeted, highly selective campaign of airstrikes against Sunni militants in Iraq similar to counterterrorism operations in Yemen, rather than the widespread bombardment of an air war, a senior administration official said on Tuesday. Such a campaign, most likely using drones, could last for a prolonged period, the official said. But it is not likely to begin for days or longer, and would hinge on the United States’ gathering adequate intelligence about the location of the militants, who are intermingled with the civilian population in Mosul, Tikrit and other cities north of Baghdad. Even if the president were to order strikes, they would be far more limited in scope than the air campaign conducted during the Iraq war, this official said, because of the relatively small number of militants involved, the degree to which they are
dispersed throughout militant-controlled parts of Iraq and fears that using bigger bombs would kill Sunni civilians. At a meeting with his national security advisers at the White House on Monday evening, the official said, Mr. Obama was presented with a “sliding scale” of military options, which range from supplying the beleaguered Iraqi Army with additional advisers, intelligence and equipment to conducting strikes targeting members of the militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Much of the emphasis at the meeting, the official said, was on how to gather useful intelligence about the militants. They are not wearing uniforms or sleeping in barracks; and while there may be periodic convoys to strike, there are no columns of troops or vehicles.
More here
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David D. Kirkpatrick: Brazen Figure May Hold Key To Mysteries
Ahmed Abu Khattala was always open about his animosity toward the United States, and even about his conviction that Muslims and Christians were locked in an intractable religious war. During the assault on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, Mr. Abu Khattala was a vivid presence. Witnesses saw him directing the swarming attackers who ultimately killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Afterward, he offered contradictory denials of his role, sometimes trying to say that he did not do it but strongly approved. He appeared to enjoy his notoriety. Captured by military commandos and law enforcement agents early on Monday, Mr. Abu Khattala may now help address some of the persistent questions about the identity and motives of the attackers.
NYT has always stood by reporting that video played role in Benghazi: Oct. 2012 ( huff.to/1dhKs1p) Dec. 2013 ( huff.to/1gg9SNx)
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Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) June 17, 2014The thriving industry of conspiracy theories, political scandals, talk show chatter and congressional hearings may now confront the man federal investigators say played the central role in the attack. On the day of the attack, Islamists in Cairo had staged a demonstration outside the United States Embassy there to protest an American-made online video mocking Islam, and the protest culminated in a breach of the embassy’s walls — images that flashed through news coverage around the Arab world. As the attack in Benghazi was unfolding a few hours later, Mr. Abu Khattala told fellow Islamist fighters and others that the assault was retaliation for the same insulting video, according to people who heard him.
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(Dislike the title. Intriguing article.)
Ben Geman: Obama’s Coded Climate Politics
President Obama’s climate speech Saturday got plenty of press for its lengthy assault on global-warming denial. But what excited an aggressive wing of the climate movement were just a few cryptic words elsewhere in the commencement address at the University of California (Irvine): “You need to invest in what helps, and divest from what harms.” Activists pushing universities and other institutions to dump their financial holdings in coal and oil-and-gas companies believe they heard an unmistakable White House endorsement.
“People are thrilled about it,” Jamie Henn of 350.org, one of the groups leading the divestment movement, said of Obama’s comments Saturday. “Students will be taking the president’s message to their college presidents and boards of trustees,” he said of the fossil-fuel-divestment campaign, which also includes the Energy Action Coalition, the Responsible Endowments Coalition, the Sierra Student Coalition, and groups on specific campuses. The founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, a high-profile climate activist, has been a major divestment advocate.
More here
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After just a few hours, there's already enough material for The Top 10 GOP Complaints About Abu Khattala's Capture on.msnbc.com/1i8Hdz5
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Steve Benen (@stevebenen) June 17, 2014****
The Question Nobody is Asking About Obama's Totally Suspicious Timing (TM) of the Benghazi Terrorist Capture thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/6/17…
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Spandan @ TPV (@thepeoplesview) June 18, 2014****
NYT: U.S. Defends Prosecuting Benghazi Suspect In Civilian Rather Than Military Court
Conservative lawmakers on Tuesday sharply criticized the Obama administration’s decision to prosecute the suspected leader of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, in the civilian criminal justice system, arguing that he should be questioned and tried by the military. The White House quickly pushed back. “Some have suggested that he should go to Gitmo,” said Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokeswoman. “Let me rule that out from the start.” “We have had substantial success delivering swift justice to terrorists through our federal court system,” she added. Greg Doherty, the brother of one of the attack’s victims, Glen A. Doherty, said he supported the decision to try Mr. Abu Khattala in a civilian court. “I think that’s what we should do with criminals, which is try them,” he said.
The Obama administration has sought to close the Guantánamo prison and refused to send newly captured prisoners there, instead using federal courts to prosecute terrorism cases that arose after Mr. Obama took office. The military commissions system, which the Bush administration established and Congress revised in 2009, has struggled. Appeals courts have vacated the convictions of the only two Guantánamo detainees who were tried for war crimes before a military commission — as opposed to pleading guilty without a trial and giving up a right to appeal — because of flaws that would likely not have been a problem in civilian court.
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Daily Beast: Why Delta Force Waited So Long To Grab A Benghazi Ringleader
The mission to capture Ahmed abu Khatallah, one of the ringleaders of the September 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya was more than a year in the making. In the months leading up to the raid, teams from the Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force, practiced the extradition on a mock-up of abu Khatallah’s compound at Fort Bragg, according to a U.S. military contractor familiar with the planning for the mission. Eventually, it was a Delta Team with embedded FBI agents on Sunday that snagged the man wanted for the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. The Obama administration has come under withering criticism because the whereabouts of abu Khatallah have been generally known.
But other U.S. officials, who spoke to The Daily Beast anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to the press, said the mission to grab abu Khatallah had been planned for more than a year. Indeed, the Benghazi ringleader had been in the sights of Delta Force operators at the end of August, according to these sources, but no order was given at the time. A senior administration official told The Daily Beast that the delay in apprehending the suspect was due in part to requests from the Justice Department to gather appropriate evidence to prosecute him in criminal court. The practice and patience paid off, apparently. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday’s raid resulted in no casualties. “Khatallah currently faces criminal charges on three counts, and we retain the option of adding additional charges in the coming days,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement Tuesday.
More here
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CBS Local: New York, Chicago, Hawaii Bid For Obama Presidential Library
At least six locations in three different states, including New York, entered official bids by Monday’s deadline in an effort to house Barack Obama’s presidential library. Columbia University, where Obama got his undergraduate degree, pitched a West Harlem site.
Four of the confirmed bidders are from Chicago, the president’s hometown, and a fifth was expected. Obama’s birth state of Hawaii also offered an oceanfront location in Honolulu.
While the Obama Foundation, which is planning the library, declined to confirm the bids it has received, planners for the six widely reported potential locations all confirmed they had submitted proposals. All see the library and museum as a potential driver of economic development. The University of Chicago cited a study it commissioned that concluded the library would draw 800,000 visitors a year and create 1,900 permanent jobs.
More here
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Simon Maloy: Stop Treating War-Crazy Buffoons As Experts! They Got It Wrong, Remember?
If you were asked to identify a single moment that best captures the failure of elite media outlets to act as agents of accountability, you could do worse than David Gregory asking Paul Wolfowitz on “Meet the Press” this weekend what we should do, “as a policy matter,” to deal with the deteriorating situation in Iraq. Wolfowitz, as deputy secretary of defense from 2001 to 2005, was one of the chief visionaries and supporters of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. And he got just about everything wrong, from the cost of the war to the presence of WMD. And he doesn’t particularly care. In an interview with the Sunday Times last March, Wolfowitz made the argument that even though they got it wrong on WMD in 2003,
everything they said was happening (but wasn’t) would likely have happened later. “We would very likely either have had to go through this whole scenario all over but probably with higher costs for having delayed, or we’d be in a situation today where not only Iran was edging towards nuclear weapons but so was Iraq and also Libya.” What price did Wolfowitz pay for his part in the biggest American foreign policy disaster of that last generation? George Bush nominated him to the presidency of the World Bank. While at the World Bank he violated ethics rules and caused a scandal that paralyzed the institution. He was forced to resign after governments around the world called for him to be fired.
More here
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BREAKING: In landmark decision, U.S. Patent Office cancels trademark for Redskins football team thkpr.gs/1qd1vXZ
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ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) June 18, 2014****
U.S. Patent Office cancels trademark for Redskins because the name is “disparaging to Native Americans” thkpr.gs/1r6Y9ps
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ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) June 18, 2014****
Travis Waldron: In Landmark Decision, U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins, ruling that the name is “disparaging to Native Americans” and thus cannot be trademarked under federal law that prohibits the protection of offensive or disparaging language. The U.S. PTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a ruling in the case, brought against the team by plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse, Wednesday morning. “We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,” the board wrote in its opinion.
“The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed with our clients that the team’s name and trademarks disparage Native Americans. The Board ruled that the Trademark Office should never have registered these trademarks in the first place,” Jesse Witten, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said in a press release. “We presented a wide variety of evidence – including dictionary definitions and other reference works, newspaper clippings, movie clips, scholarly articles, expert linguist testimony, and evidence of the historic opposition by Native American groups – to demonstrate that the word ‘redskin’ is an ethnic slur.”
More here
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Sen. Harry Reid The Awesome!
Some Republicans are so obsessed with criticizing the President that they insult the great work of our men and women in uniform. Pathetic.
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Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) June 17, 2014****
From my experience, being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is to be on the right side of history.
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Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) June 18, 2014****
Even in these days of polarization, some of Republican reactions are shocking and disgusting: talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/distr…
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Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) June 17, 2014****
Dear Washington football team management,
Thanks for the invite, but I won't consider it until you change the name.
reid.senate.gov/press_releases…
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Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) June 16, 2014****
Bonus
If producers marched into TV studios and removed Bush/Cheney neocons from cable news shows, they'd be greeted as liberators.
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Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) June 18, 2014****
On This Day
President Obama (background in Oval Office) chats before a lunch with members of the press in his private dining room, on June 18, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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After playing a round of golf, President Obama has a drink with Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, at Joint Base Andrews, June 18, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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First Lady Michelle Obama with Sasha and Malia during a visit to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains National Park in Ireland, on June 18, 2013.
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May
14
The President’s Day
President Obama announces that he has accepted the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki during a press conference in the Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington
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Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson leaves the White House after being named by President Barack Obama to run the Veterans Affairs Department on an interim basis while President Obama searches for a replacement for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki who resigned Friday.
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President Barack Obama gives White House press secretary Jay Carney a hug after announcing that Carney will step down later next month, during a surprise visit to the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. The president announced Carney’s departure in a surprise appearance at in the White House press briefing room Friday. He said principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will take over the job
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Will miss my friend Jay Carney shown here on Air Force One this week. http://t.co/SNnPaAmUc4
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(@petesouza) May 30, 2014****
Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, share the stage and a laugh during the daily briefing at the White House
President Barack Obama, flanked by Attorney Holder Eric Holder, Education Secretary Arne Duncan,and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker; speaks about a report from “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to expand opportunity for young men and boys of color
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President Barack Obama attends a hurricane preparedness meeting at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC
President Barack Obama gives White House press secretary Jay Carney a hug after announcing that Carney will step down later next month, during a surprise visit to the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. The president announced Carney’s departure in a surprise appearance at in the White House press briefing room Friday. He said principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will take over the job
Pete Souza: Pres Obama reacts after seeing Jay Carney’s new beard
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NBC News: Podium Shuffle: Carney Resigns As White House Press Secretary
President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance Friday to announce that his chief spokesman Jay Carney is leaving his post behind the podium. Obama called Carney one of his closest advisers and friends at the White House in remarks to the press in the White House briefing room. “In April, Jay came to me in the Oval Office and said that he was thinking of moving on, and I was not thrilled, to say the least,” he said. “But Jay has had to wrestle with this decision for quite some time.”
“I will continue to rely on him as a friend and an adviser after he leaves to spend as much of his summer as he can with his kids before he decides what’s next for him,” he added. “Whatever it is, I know he’s going to be outstanding at it.” Carney called holding the job “an honor and a joy for me.” Obama announced that communications deputy Josh Earnest will take over the job as the president’s press secretary.
More here
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.@PressSec is a great friend, a trusted advisor and an incredible asset for the President and the White House. We'll miss you. -VP
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Vice President Biden (@VP) May 30, 2014Will miss @PressSec who has been an incredible colleague and friend for 5 and a half years, leads by example, and is truly a class act
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Ben Rhodes (@rhodes44) May 30, 2014****
So proud of @PressSec, and so excited for @jearnest44 - no one deserves the job more, or will do it better
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Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) May 30, 2014Thanks for everything, Jay Carney! And congrats to our next White House @PressSec, @JEarnest44. http://t.co/TYq3E50iG6
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 30, 2014****
Carney to be replaced by @jearnest44 RT @tamarakeithNPR: Pres. Obama says "Jay has become one of my closest friends." http://t.co/3a2cCnn6cy
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NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) May 30, 2014****
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President Barack Obama shares a laugh as he makes a surprise visit into the Brady Press Briefing Room to announce that White House press secretary Jay Carney, right, will be stepping down later next month.
Continue reading ‘Thank You Press Secretary Jay ‘Clark Kent’ Carney!’
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Apr
14
A Moment Of Silence
White House: President Obama observes a moment of silence to honor victims of last year’s Boston Marathon bombing. #BostonStrong
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Apr
14
Rise and Shine
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The Week Ahead
Today: The President has no public events scheduled.
Monday: The President will host an Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House.
Tuesday: The President and the First Lady will mark the beginning of Passover with a Seder at the White House with friends and staff.
Wednesday: President Obama and Vice President Biden will travel to Leetsdale, Pennsylvania for an event on the economy.
Thursday: The President will welcome the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House in celebration of the eighth annual Soldier Ride.
Friday: The President will meet with the National Commander and Executive Director of the American Legion. Later, he will welcome the United States Naval Academy Football Team to the White House to present them with the 2013 Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
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10:0 PM ET today: President Obama appears in the Showtime documentary series ‘Years of Living Dangerously’, produced by James Cameron, to discuss climate change.
Watch the first episode of "Years of Living Dangerously" for free online: http://t.co/xMB2wbywUU #ActOnClimate
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 13, 2014
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Karen Rubin: Obama At National Action Network, Defends Voting Rights, Issues Call To Action
President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned defense of voting rights and a call to action to vote. Delivering the keynote address which concluded the National Action Network’s convention in New York City, on Friday, April 11, Obama declared, “Just as inequality feeds on injustice, opportunity requires justice. And justice requires the right to vote.” Just the day before, at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, he had reflected upon the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under President Lyndon B Johnson, and his remarks built on that theme. The Voting Rights Act, which some regard as even more crucial an achievement, did not come until 1965. Showing a full gamut of emotions during his 20-minute speech, from bemusement to impassioned invocation, to a folksy, intimate conversation, he used the fabricated controversy over his birth certificate to make the more serious point of documents being required to vote that low-income people,
elderly people, urbanites, young people may not have, and even women, who by virtue of getting married have a different name on their drivers’ license, may be denied access to the polls, while in other districts, people are being forced to stand for hours on end in order to cast a ballot. He pointed to some successes in his administration – 9 million jobs created since the financial collapse of 2008, the Affordable Care Act that saw nearly 8 million enrollees, millions more covered under expanded Medicaid and a significant drop in the percentage of uninsured, lowered high school drop out rates. But he talked, as well, about the Opportunity Agenda – raising the minimum wage, universal Pre-K, access to affordable health care, pay equity, job training, access to higher education, addressing the impacts of carbon pollution that disproportionately affect low-income communities, immigration reform, that can only be achieved, first because of the ballot box.
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LOL GOP: This Is A Fantastic Pro-Obamacare Ad – Why Aren’t There A Thousand Like It?
Since news broke that enrollments in the Obamacare exchanges had broken 7 million, there has been a steady stream of positive indications for the law. Signups in the exchanges continue at impressive pace as the deadline to complete applications nears. Medicaid expansion is taking off in Michigan and will continue all year long. But the best news is this new ad from a Super PAC supporting Alaska senator Mark Begich that makes the most effective case for the law — it ends discrimination against people who’ve gotten sick. This is a fantasitc message because you know who gets sick? Everyone, eventually. The bad news is we likely won’t be seeing many ads like this from candidates as Democrats in close elections recognize that the enthusiasm is on the side of repeal, which is less popular than the law nationally but gospel among the GOP base.
Going on the offense, which is always the right strategy, is more challenging when you’re afraid your only inflaming the people most likely to vote in a low-turn out election. However, there is a huge opportunity for outside groups and supporters of the law to flood the internet with these kinds of testimonials. Film a friend. Speak into a camera. I’m even thinking about how to fund a contest for the best homemade video. The tide could be turning for this law and personal stories — along with stern indictments of the incredible cruelty of denying Medicaid expansion — could transform the political landscape. And there are signs the shift has already begun.
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Justin Baragona: Can White Conservatives Please Stop Saying That Racism Doesn’t Exist Anymore?
In the aftermath of Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks at a National Action Network event on Wednesday, white conservative pundits have used their airtime to complain about Holder ‘playing the race card.’ Some have even gone so far as saying that racism is no longer a problem in America and doesn’t even exist anymore. On two programs this past week, we witnessed panel discussions about race where all the participants were white. On Thursday, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough defended Gohmert’s behavior and accused the Attorney General and the President of playing the race card too often. He then tried to lead a discussion on racism, or the lack thereof, in Washington. His feeling is that Washington is just a tough place to work, and that Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and Richard Nixon all dealt with worse behavior from political opponents. He was able to get agreement from others on the panel that racism is not an issue in Washington and that this is all just politics as usual.
Now, I’d like you to take a look at the composition of this panel discussing race and tell me what all of them have in common: Hmmm. That sure is a diverse panel there, isn’t it? I am sure they can provide us with quite a bit of varied insight and experience when it comes to race relations and what it likes to be black in America. Few things are more offensive that white people explaining to black Americans how racism doesn’t exist anymore. I would have to think that African Americans hate hearing a white conservative whine about a black person ‘playing the race card.’ This is one of the biggest reasons why Republicans get less than 10% of the black vote in national elections, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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0 people died from ObamaCare. 4 people died in Benghazi. 700.000 died in Iraq. Fox wonders if they should focus on ObamaCare or Benghazi.
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John (@linnyitssn) April 12, 2014****
TPM: Poll: Republicans Admit Obamacare Might Not Be The End Of The World
As Obamacare’s first enrollment period ends and the law becomes a more established part of U.S. policy, the Republican base appears to be having an epiphany: Maybe it’s not the end of the world.
A new Gallup poll found that the number of self-identified GOPers who think the law won’t affect them spiked 20 percentage points from a month ago.
Back in late February and early March, 72 percent of Republicans said that Obamacare would make their lives and their family’s lives worse in the long run. But just a month later, that figure fell to 51 percent. The percentage who said that the law wouldn’t make much difference leapt from 23 percent to 43 percent over the same period.
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Trevor LaFauci: Texas-Sized Beat Down: How Eric Holder Put Rep. Louie Gohmert In His Place
On Tuesday, in a heated exchange on Capitol Hill, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder laid the smackdown on Texas Republican Representative Louie Gohmert for implying that Holder should be held in contempt for withholding documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. In the nearly three-and-a-half-hour-long session involving thirty-four members of Congress, it was the exchange with Gohmert which brought the day’s most dramatic fireworks. This was not the first time that tensions have risen between Holder and Gohmert. Last May at a hearing regarding the Boston Marathon bombing, Gohmert attacked Holder by claiming that the Justice Department had not done enough to prevent the Boston Marathon bombing. When Holder pushed back, Gohmert gave us the now-famous quote that “the Attorney General will not cast aspersions on my asparagus”
The Republican Party has been doing everything in their power since day one to try and manufacture some kind of Watergate-esque scandal that could bring down the Obama Administration. They are doing so because they know that with eight successful years of Democratic policies in place, the Republican Party will be unlikely to take back the White House any time soon. They have been digging and digging for some kind of scandal and at this point the hole is so big that there is no way to return to the surface, so they continue digging deeper no matter how foolish they appear. Here’s the current list of “impeachable” scandals that Republicans have tried to pin on the Obama Administration: Operation Fast and Furious, the IRS targeting of Conservative groups, the NSA data collecting, the tracking of Associated Press reporters, Benghazi, etc., etc. None of these have panned out
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Millions of lives changed for the better. #ThanksKathleen—you've earned this mic drop. bit.ly/1ewYv1k http://t.co/6rwBZQ4X47
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Planned Parenthood (@PPact) April 11, 2014****
Dear Kathleen Sebelius, feel free to hang your "Mission Accomplished" banner in Boehner's office on your way out. #Obamacare #ThankYou
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Matty Ice (@MattyIceAZ) April 11, 2014****
Jonathan Capehart: ‘Thank You, Kathleen, For Your Service’
Kathleen Sebelius is a rarity in Washington: a powerhouse with a down-to-earth sense of humor that made her as approachable as she was powerful. And after five tough years (and particularly the past six months) as secretary of health and human services, the former governor of Kansas is stepping down. The Rose Garden send-off today by President Obama and Vice President Biden and the standing ovations from her colleagues were appropriate for someone who met the ultimate goal. Yes, the Oct. 1 rollout of HealthCare.gov was an unmitigated disaster. But if you only focus on that, you’re missing a more complete picture of Sebelius’s tenure at HHS. Crisis greeted her when she walked through the door in April 2009. The H1N1 pandemic was surging across the globe, and vaccines for this new strain of swine flu didn’t exist. Sebelius shepherded the process of expediting production and distribution of a vaccine.
Dec. @ezraklein "Obama Needs To Fire" Sebelius bv.ms/1qI7nqr April "Obamacare has won" thanks to Sebelius bit.ly/QbbKih
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Bill Scher (@billscher) April 11, 2014While that was happening, Sebelius was helping to design what would become known and derided as Obamacare. She was there for the lunacy of “death panels” and “You lie!” She was there when the ACA passed Congress without a single Republican vote and when it survived a constitutional challenge. She was there for countless congressional hearings on the health-care law, useless votes to repeal it, creepy Uncle Sam and other tactics meant to scare people from signing up for health care.“There are seven and a half million people across the country that have the security of health insurance, most of them for the very first time, and that’s because of the woman standing next to me here today,” the president said in a farewell ceremony as triumphant as the one held more than a week ago to announce the better-than-expected enrollment numbers. “And we are proud of her for that. That’s a historic accomplishment.”
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Zachary Roth: Democrats Finally Make Voting Rights A Top Priority
For years, voting-rights advocates have been quietly urging Democrats and the Obama administration to fully embrace the fight over access to the ballot as a defining civil-rights issue of our day. This was the week when it finally happened. The heightened rhetoric, which came from President Obama and other heavyweights in his party, is the latest sign that voting rights are likely to be a front-burner issue when Americans go to the polls this fall—at least if Democrats have their way. In a speech at the National Action Network convention in New York City Friday afternoon, Obama used his most forceful language yet on the subject to condemn Republican efforts to make voting harder. “The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago,” the president said. “Across the country, Republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, for people to vote.”
McCutcheon cartoon of the day. http://t.co/9puUpDg5wn
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Michael Li (@mcpli) April 09, 2014Obama continually linked today’s battles to the historic movement for African-American voting rights half a century ago, invoking the three young civil-rights activists who were murdered in Mississippi in 1964 while registering voters. “Americans did not stand up and did not march and did not sacrifice to gain the right to vote, for themselves and for others, only to see it denied to their kids and their grandkids,” Obama said, drawing raucous cheers from the crowd. “We’ve got to pay attention to this.” Obama even took time to dissect the arguments of those who argue that voter ID laws are needed to stop fraud, citing a study showing a fraud rate of just 0.00002%. “So let’s be clear,” Obama said. “The real voter fraud is people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud.”
Hello!!
LATINOS....
#ImmigrationReform #TNTweeters #UniteBlue http://t.co/GJ9WHfyCDX"
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Eduardo Murillo (@rover09151976) April 13, 2014Obama’s rousing words come days after he called efforts to stop people voting “un-American” during a Houston fundraiser. And they follow on the heels of similar remarks this week from two of the other highest-profile Democrats in the country, Vice President Joe Biden and President Bill Clinton. In linking today’s voting restrictions to laws that kept blacks from the polls during segregation, Obama and his allies aren’t explicitly saying that the ongoing GOP push to make voting harder is a racially motivated effort that has roots in the Jim Crow era. But they’re certainly allowing that inference to be drawn. To voting rights advocates, the new level of engagement from top Democrats, especially Obama himself, is welcome indeed.
50 years after the Civil Rights Act, America remains divided on.msnbc.com/1ipwr0Z via @msnbc
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Nina Turner (@ninaturner) April 09, 2014“Nothing is more important than the American people hearing the president of the United States bringing the full passion and power of his voice and his position to the issue of promoting voting rights and an open democracy for every citizen,” said Barbara Arnwine, the president of the National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It’s not just talk, either. The Democratic National Committee recently launched the Voter Expansion Project, which aims to push back against restrictive voting laws by registering new voters and supporting laws that expand access to the ballot.
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“We don’t accept a Constitution saying #Crimea belongs to #Russia”,- Crimean Tatars leader obozrevatel.com/politics/16749… http://t.co/JIcRWQ07lL
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Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) April 11, 2014****
#NATO sets the record straight: 9 #Russia myths debunked goo.gl/wSGskA #Ukraine http://t.co/uGO42wJSdk
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(@NATO) April 11, 2014****
Bloomberg: Ukraine Sees $7 Billion IMF Funding This Year
Ukraine will probably receive $7 billion in International Monetary Fund financing this year to support the state budget and central bank reserves, Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said. The east European nation is also seeking further funding from the Group of Seven countries, Shlapak said an interview in Washington yesterday. Of the group’s members, Canada has pledged $200 million and the U.S. has also responded, he said. The government predicts Ukraine’s economy will shrink 3 percent in 2014, the third recession since 2008, while reserves are at a nine-year low. The country sealed a preliminary accord with the IMF last month for as much as $18 billion in loans during two years, with the agreement unlocking $27 billion in international financing. Ukraine needs about $30 billion through 2015 to “balance the situation,” Shlapak said.
The currency will rebound after the IMF deal is completed, Shlapak said. Ukrainian officials will meet IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on April 14 and the government “hopes” the lender’s board will convene to approve the loan this month, he said. Ukraine wants to get the funds as soon as possible, he added. “While we announced the $27 billion, which is the financing need of the country for the next 24 months, we have also given a range for the financing that would come from the fund, and that range has been $14 to $18 billion,” IMF European Director Reza Moghadam said today in Washington. “Our exact financing will depend on how much comes from other bilateral and multilateral lenders.”
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Jonnelle Marte: Obamacare Making Insurance Cheaper – For Cars
Obamacare, the law that could save you 2% or more on car insurance. It isn’t exactly the main pitch behind the health-insurance law, but a study released Wednesday by the Rand Corporation finds that as more people gain health insurance, the costs of other types of insurance could go down. In particular, car insurance and other liability-insurance companies that typically spend tens of billions of dollars each year on health-care claims related to car accidents, workplace injuries and other scenarios could see their health costs decline and could pass those savings on to consumers in the form of lower premiums.
In the case of car-insurance companies, the study points out that some uninsured people, upon suffering through a car accident, may then seek treatment for conditions they have that are unrelated to the car accident. If those types of conditions were covered by health-insurance companies, it could shave up to 2% off of the average costs incurred by auto-insurance companies, the study found. “It’s extraneous stuff you might get the auto insurer to pay for,” says David Auerbach, the lead author of the report and a health policy researcher with Rand Corporation. “It’s hard to tell what was actually caused by the accident.”
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Read: Full NSA statement on Heartbleed http://t.co/3o2S8zuvd9
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AJAM Live (@ajamlive) April 11, 2014****
Weeping for FDR: In a classic photo by Ed Clark, the face of a nation's loss | ti.me/1kgP2jX http://t.co/EvX3GqUeMv
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(@LIFE) April 12, 2014****
What Chait's critics are simply asking is that black views on this race-political divide be taken seriously by him. That's not an attack.
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Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 13, 2014****
Tommy Christopher: Republicans, Racism, And Reasonable Suspicion
Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine has been making a spectacle of himself lately, most recently tying himself in knots trying to explain away his essay on race in the Obama Era. On Thursday night’s All In with Chris Hayes, his point seems to have evolved into a plea for fairness to Republicans, while conceding that everything about Republicanism is legitimately racist. He told Chris Hayes that “you can go to almost any issue and see a racial dynamic, and I really think you can, and you can legitimately,” but somehow, legitimately identifying those racial dynamics is somehow unfair, and contributes to a “poisonous dynamic.”
I don’t get it, and I don’t agree with either end of that hypothesis. There are many issues that either don’t have a racial dynamic, or have racial dynamics that intersect the partisan divide, and discussing those issues that do have a racial dynamic in racial terms isn’t just fair, it is essential. However, on Chait’s own terms, if every partisan issue can legitimately be viewed as racial, how could it possibly be unfair to discuss that?
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The Obamas gave to 32 different charities, White House says. Largest beneficiary, as usual: Fisher House Foundation fisherhouse.org
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West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) April 11, 2014****
The Obamas paid a higher tax rate this year, even as their income fell on.wsj.com/1oUtC0F by @johndmckinnon @wsj http://t.co/kA86uhKaXa
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Tim Hanrahan (@TimJHanrahan) April 11, 2014****
Jay Carney: President Obama and Vice President Biden’s 2013 Tax Returns
Today, the President released his 2013 federal income tax returns. He and the First Lady filed their income tax returns jointly and reported adjusted gross income of $481,098. The Obamas paid $98,169 in total tax. The President and First Lady also reported donating $59,251 – or about 12.3 percent of their adjusted gross income – to 32 different charities. The largest reported gift to charity was $8,751 to the Fisher House Foundation. The President’s effective federal income tax rate is 20.4 percent. The President pushed for and signed into law legislation that makes the system more fair and helps the middle class by extending tax cuts to middle class and working families and asks the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. In 2013, as a result of his policies, the President was subject to limitations in tax preferences, as well as additional Medicare and investment income taxes, for high income earners.
The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $23,328 in state income tax. The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden also released their 2013 federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns for both Delaware and Virginia. The Bidens filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident Virginia tax return. Together, they reported adjusted gross income of $407,009. The Bidens paid $96,378 in total federal tax for 2013, amounting to an effective tax rate of 23.7 percent. They also paid $14,644 in Delaware income tax and Dr. Biden paid $3,470 in Virginia income tax. The Bidens contributed $20,523 to charity in 2013, including contributing the royalties received from Dr. Biden’s children’s book, net of taxes, to the USO.
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Sebelius says she told Obama staying 'wasn't an option' reut.rs/1qV0xOt
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Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 13, 2014****
Sebelius: No Regrets on Health Care nbcnews.to/1qsXUoJ
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Michael F Ozaki MD (@brontyman) April 13, 2014****
Nancy LeTourneau: An Open Letter To My “Disappointed” Democratic Friends
Dear Disappointeds: Back in 2010 you told us that you were disappointed in the President you helped elect. And because of that, you weren’t motivated enough to vote in the midterms. While I don’t share your disappointment, I want to say that I hear you. Now we’re facing another midterm election and we have the benefit of hindsight to tell us what changed as a result of your lack of enthusiasm. Sure, you might have wanted single payer and a larger stimulus package.
But you have to admit that Obamacare is doing an awful lot of good. And perhaps you should read Michael Grunwald’s book The New New Deal to learn how the American Recovery Act was way more than many of us thought it was at the time. Its “gut check” time for all of us. I don’t know about you, but after these last four years I’m actually psyched to get back to Democrats arguing with other Democrats over HOW MUCH change we want to see rather than being pissed at Republicans all the time for their total obstruction. There’s a lot riding on this one. I hope we can all work together to make that happen.
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The Week: Obama Is On Track To Leave A Budget Surplus
Bill Clinton left the presidency with a budget surplus. And although the first five years of Barack Obama’s presidency have featured high (but falling) deficits, it’s starting to look like Obama could do the same. For the first time since the 1950s, federal spending is lower than it was four years ago: As Mike Darda argues: The fiscal deficit has been falling by an average of 1.5 percentage points per annum since peaking in late 2009.
If this trend continues, it would imply a balanced budget during 2015 and a fiscal surplus in 2016. [AEI] Obama leaving office with a balanced budget would come as a big shock to those who have compared the U.S. to crisis-stricken countries like Greece, or claimed that Obama is spending like a drunken sailor. But that is exactly what the U.S. is on trend to do.
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Alice C. Shephard: Balancing Act: In The Constant Juggle Of Managing Life At Home And Life At Work, Claire Shipman Realizes That Confidence Is Key
ABC News contributor Claire Shipman is gently trying to coax her eight-year-old daughter, Della Claire Carney, to appear in a Washingtonian MOM photo shoot, in which Della might have to wear pink and comb her tangled mane. Della is not easily swayed. She hates pink. Nor does she like to brush her hair. The daughter of Shipman and Jay Carney, President Obama’s press secretary, isn’t the kind of young girl interested in pleasing her Washington-power-couple parents, or any of the adults around her on the photo shoot for that matter. She is funny, sweet, and obviously smart, but she’s not going to budge for braids and patterned shirts.
To Shipman, 51, this is great, though it can be trying. She’d love it if every once in a while Della would run a comb through her locks. Shipman and Carney’s son, Hugo James Carney, on the other hand, spends a lot more time styling his red hair. “He’s 12 going on 16,” says Shipman. During the shoot, Hugo walked up to everyone on the production crew, held out his hand for a firm shake, and said, “Hello, I’m Hugo, nice to meet you”; to say he is a well-mannered tween is an understatement. Hugo and Della both attend Sidwell Friends School. The busy Carney-Shipman household also “parents” one-year-old Flash, a Portuguese water dog who is a cousin to the Obamas’ dog Sunny.
Shipman and her close friend Katty Kay, the Washington correspondent for BBC World News America, have just written a book on women and confidence called The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know, released in April. Not surprisingly, Shipman has learned a lot about her own daughter through her research. “My daughter is a tomboy,” she says. “She’s strong-willed and doesn’t care about conventions. Our research helped me realize that this is not something I want to go away. If she has her own strong opinions and wears what she wants to wear, that’s great—even if I don’t like it.”
Carney, 48, says the book’s findings changed how they parent their daughter. “Raising Della, we are both now extremely mindful of how important confidence is for girls, and how different it can be in girls compared with boys,” he says. “We try to help Della build confidence by focusing on the effort she puts into things, rather than just praising the outcomes.” I Absolutely Won’t Let Kids . . . They can never treat people badly. Being rude or less than caring produces draconian consequences and much-dreaded family meetings.
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#BundyRanch nutjobbery calls to mind that @SenWarren speech - he won't give to gubmint, but he'll sure as heck take. http://t.co/RI8sa1bbAx
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TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 12, 2014****
Militia types are running pictures of Obama and Holder in defending Bundy's non-payment of fees authorized by Reagan reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speec…
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(@techweenie) April 12, 2014****
Just donated $200 to Harry Reid after reading about his efforts to bring parasitic felon Bundy to justice #BundyRanch http://t.co/Fpfrq7k6bD
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Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) April 12, 2014****
On This Day
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Joanne Kenen and Kyle Cheney: White House: 7 Million Signed Up For Obamacare
More than 7 million people signed up for health insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges through Monday night’s deadline, White House press secretary Jay Carney announced. A total of 7,041,000 people signed up, Carney said, and that number doesn’t include enrollment surges that took place in the 14 states running their own insurance marketplaces. Carney said the administration expects that the final numbers will also show sharply higher enrollment by young adults, but he said no demographic breakdowns are available yet and was unable to say how many of the enrollees were previously uninsured. The law’s impact on the uninsured, he said, was intended to be measured over three years.
He called estimates that 40 percent of all enrollees must be young and healthy a “red herring” and that enough young people had already enrolled to keep Obamacare exchanges stable. Carney also ripped Republicans for what he said was a laser-focus on undermining the law — an effort he said “has come to naught and it will come to naught.” “Folks out there who want to take those benefits away from the American people … have spent and will spend millions of dollars making their argument, often using false examples and false facts,” he said. “We are feeling good. It’s been amazing to see the consumer interest and the work that’s been done on the ground. … Yes, I am smiling!” said Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America.
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“Miracle” achieved, AP.
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Dylan Scott: Obamacare Sign-Ups: 7,041,000
How many people have signed up for private coverage under Obamacare? 7,041,000, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced Tuesday afternoon. That number is likely to rise: It does not include the Monday sign-ups in the 14 states operating their own marketplaces. In addition, the enrollment deadline was relaxed for people having trouble completing the process, so some people could still sign up in the next two weeks.
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Tara Culp-Ressler: BREAKING: More Than 7 Million People Have Now Enrolled In Obamacare
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that Obamacare enrollment has officially topped seven million — exceeding the expectations for the health law after persistent website glitches made the enrollment process more difficult for some Americans. The 7,041,000 figure reported by the administration does not include the people who enrolled in state-based exchanges on Monday, and also doesn’t include anyone who’s still waiting in the queue for their application to be processed.
There was widespread recent speculation that Obamacare enrollment would successfully hit the seven million mark. On Monday night, administration officials told the Associated Press that Obamacare was “on track” to sign up seven million people. During his daily briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Carney confirmed that health law sign-ups have now surpassed that threshold, as Americans rushed to get their applications in before the end of the first open enrollment period.
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TPM: Obama Tells GOP: Time To Get Over Obamacare
Touting the news that Obamacare had reached 7 million sign-ups, an almost unthinkable achievement so soon after the law’s disastrous October launch, President Barack Obama sent a direct message Tuesday to Republicans and their efforts to stymie the law: Get over it. “The debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay,” Obama said Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden. “In the end, history is not kind to those who deny Americans basic economic security. Nobody remembers well those who stand in the way of America’s progress or our people. That’s what the Affordable Care Act represents.”
The president’s remarks followed an unprecedented flurry of good news this week for the law and its supporters. Enrollment beat the Congressional Budget Office’s original projection, which had been revised down after HealthCare.gov website flopped in the fall. The Los Angeles Times estimated that 9.5 million previously uninsured people had been covered. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that support for Obamacare broke even for the first time.” This law is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s working. It’s helping people from coast to coast. All of which makes the lengths to which critics have gone to scare people, or undermine the law, or repeal the law… so hard to understand,” Obama said. “I don’t get it. Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance? Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?”
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Great news: #7MillionAndCounting have signed up for private health coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
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Office of VP Biden (@VP) April 01, 2014FACT: More than 7 million Americans have signed up for private health plans thanks to the #ACA. #7MillionAndCounting http://t.co/upyKHaBvi3
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The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 01, 2014****
Continue reading ‘“Miracle” Achieved: 7.1 Million And Counting’
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The World Speaks
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POTUS spoke to President Putin of Russia this afternoon about the situation in #Ukraine. Readout to come
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Ben Rhodes (@rhodes44) March 16, 2014****
#EU statement on #Crimea by Herman Van Rompuy & José Manuel Barroso:
bit.ly/1iROfbf @euHvR @EU_Commission #EU #Russia
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EU External Action (@eu_eeas) March 16, 2014****
Yahoo: Crimea Vote Result Won’t Be Recognized: EU’s Barroso, Van Rompuy
The secession referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea is illegal and illegitimate and its outcome will not be recognized, The European Union’s top officials said in a joint statement on Sunday.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy also called on Russia to withdraw its armed forces to their pre-crisis numbers and to usual areas of deployment.
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The two actual referendum options: 1. Yes, #Crimea is #Russian; 2. No, Crimea is NOT Ukrainian ... Sigh #EuroMaidan http://t.co/DzIjxKT0Nd
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Paulina Migalska (@Paulina_SE) March 16, 2014Mustafa #Dzhemilev said that in reality the voter turnout in #Crimea illegal referendum was 30%. Around 99,9% of Crimean Tatars did not vote
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Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) March 16, 2014****
The Obama Diary 
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