Posts Tagged ‘jay
President Obama Is A Good Man
Early Bird Chat
President Barack Obama speaks during a fundraiser for Washington Governor Jay Inslee at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington
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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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)
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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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.
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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.
The 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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.
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https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/472440165164929024
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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!’
Oso
President Obama hugs a first responder after touring the mud slide damage in Oso, Washington
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President Obama hugs Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., as he arrives at Paine Field Airport. Also greeting the president from left, Major General Bret Daugherty, The Adjutant General, Washington, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Jon Lovick, Snohomish County Executive, Ray Stephanson, Mayor of Everett, and Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington
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Marine One, carrying President Obama, takes an aerial tour of Oso
Casey Larsen waits for President Obama’s motorcade to arrive during his visit to Oso, Washington pic.twitter.com/VFR4UzPzos
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 23, 2014
Debbie Larsen tapes a sign to her family’s 1966 Ford AC Cobra to welcome President Obama during his visit to Oso pic.twitter.com/ifrjZQvmdO
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 23, 2014
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Schoolchildren watch President Obama’s motorcade travel past their bus on Washington Highway 530 near Oso
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TY 1st responders! RT @TheObamaDiary: President Obama hugs a first responder after touring the OSO mud slide damage pic.twitter.com/TI67EVwkWC
— Air National Guard (@AirNatlGuard) April 23, 2014
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President Obama speaks to first responders after touring the mudslide damage in Oso
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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.
More here
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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.
More here
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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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Continue reading ‘“Miracle” Achieved: 7.1 Million And Counting’
The World Speaks
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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 Obama White House is pulling out all the stops for the State of the Union. Join in the excitement and fun of a participatory government.
A Tweet or Two
For weeks, Exxon sponsors tweets of 60 Minutes clips Tonite show airs hit job on clean energy http://t.co/9N2f6Alx4r pic.twitter.com/rWlmMpy7IX
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 6, 2014
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Y’all must have missed the press release last year announcing that @60Minutes was acquired by @TheOnion.
— Allan Brauer (@allanbrauer) January 6, 2014
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60 Minutes did a hit job on clean energy. Check out the facts: http://t.co/nhkptIouug pic.twitter.com/OJrakvuXW6
— Climate Progress (@climateprogress) January 6, 2014
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Looking forward to next week’s 60 Minutes where they finally get to the bottom of this Obama birth certificate mess.
— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) January 6, 2014
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Another great rebuttal of @60minutes bone headed #clean #energy segment: http://t.co/vAjHQcatHj from @danahull at @mercnews
— Sean Sarah (@SeanTSarah) January 6, 2014
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What do you expect @MikeGrunwald from #BENGHAZILieFactory > @60Minutes < They have ZERO credibility. Pure #GOP #NEWSTAINMENT aka #Propaganda
— Bobfr (@Our4thEstate) January 6, 2014
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RIP @60Minutes
— BWD (@theonlyadult) January 6, 2014
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A Republican who sues to take away his own staff’s health insurance will have no problem taking away your Medicare. #repeatuntilelectionday
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) January 6, 2014
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Cry me a river. What a fraud. // The Agony of Frank Luntz – Atlantic Mobile http://t.co/8d2JthBVRX
— LiberalPhenom (@LiberalPhenom) January 6, 2014
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With the repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell” some 114,000 troops are eligible to upgrade their discharge http://t.co/MOvCySSZT1
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) January 6, 2014
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#BREAKING: #LizCheney Receives Honorary Degree From The Sarah Palin School Of Seeing Things Through
— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) January 6, 2014
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The Book That’s Causing Panic At Fox News http://t.co/4PYJNR1i6O
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 6, 2014
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Jay! #BeardGate pic.twitter.com/hI5Y100BlF
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) January 6, 2014
😯
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BREAKING – Fox: Obama admin sends subliminal message to Murika #BeardGate pic.twitter.com/LT9QyLBgPd
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) January 6, 2014
The Obama Diary 
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