News of the Day

President Barack Obama met with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of Greece in the Oval Office of the White House. Obama and Samras discussed a range of bilateral issues during their meeting.

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AJC: U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a man in high demand as we approach the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, recently sat down with The Guardian – the newspaper that Edward Snowden chose for his now-famous leaks.

The Atlanta congressman wasn’t thrilled with the results. Apparently, the headline – since adjusted – had him praising the former IT man for the NSA as another Gandhi….

…. Here’s the note put out this morning by Lewis:

“News reports about my interview with The Guardian are misleading, and they do not reflect my complete opinion. Let me be clear. I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned.

“I never praised  Mr. Snowden or said his actions rise to those of Mohandas Gandhi or other civil rights leaders. In fact, The Guardian itself agreed to retract the word “praise” from its headline…..”

More here

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@Guardian lied about @RepJohnLewis. He didn't praise Snowden. The Guardian's not interested in truth; just clicks. http://t.co/t74NbOsqfN

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) August 08, 2013

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Pity the poor Dudebros. Their search for the black man who will give them permission to hate Obama continues.

— allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) August 8, 2013

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ThinkProgress: Voters Confront Congressman For Trying To Repeal Obamacare: ‘We’ve Got To Have It’

In Washington, D.C., Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) issues countless press releases boasting about his votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, insisting that his constituents in North Carolina are clamoring for relief from the law. But during a town hall in Swannanoa on Wednesday, voters confronted the five-term Congressman with an entirely different sentiment: they demanded to know why Republicans would take away the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions without offering any credible other alternative for reforming the health care system. One grieving mother, who spoke to reporters before the event, said that her son was denied insurance because of a pre-existing health condition and eventually died of colon cancer.

More here

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JUST IN: President Obama will hold a press conference at the White House tomorrow.

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  (@msnbc) August 08, 2013

Obama to sign a bill in a Friday ceremony to lower the costs of borrowing for college students: apne.ws/13QQE9l -MM

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The Associated Press (@AP) August 08, 2013

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Pinterest: Vintage Black Beauty & History

Huge thanks to Yardarm for this link, it has a really beautiful, powerful, and thought provoking collection of photos. You must check them out.

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Lawrence O’Donnell Demolishing Julia Ioffe’s Non-Factual Pro-Putin Nonsense

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Palestinian, Israeli peace talks to resume in Jerusalem on August 14, US State Department says - @Reuters

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Breaking News (@BreakingNews) August 08, 2013

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Zap2It: President Obama’s Appearance On ‘The Tonight Show’ Earns Top Tuesday Overnights In 21 Months

In Late-Night Metered Markets Tuesday night:  With a guest appearance by President Barack Obama, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” delivered its highest rating in metered-market households (a 3.8 rating, 10 share) for any night of the week in nine months, since Wednesday, October 24, 2012 (4.0), the night of Obama’s prior appearance on the show, and highest for a Tuesday night in 21 months, since October 25, 2011 (4.1), the night of another appearance by President Obama.

More here

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TIME: How Obama’s Putin Snub Is Playing Out In Russia

On Wednesday evening, when U.S. President Obama cancelled his upcoming visit to Moscow, the Russian reaction was perhaps most clear in the way that Vesti, the state’s main propaganda TV channel, conveyed it on the channel’s website. Buried about half way down on the page, underneath a story about Russian tourists in Turkey, Vesti announced: “The invitation for Obama stands.” Beside that was the somewhat diversionary headline: “Barack Obama will travel to St. Petersburg for the G20 summit.” The actual news — that Obama had decided not to meet with his Russian counterpart before, after or during the G20 summit in St. Petersburg next month — was clearly not something the official spin doctors wanted to advertise.

After a year spent honing their anti-American rhetoric — on issues ranging from the adoption of Russian children to missile defense in Europe and the civil war in Syria — the Kremlin message makers were suddenly eager to claim that President Vladimir Putin didn’t really mean for things to go this far. “Sure, Putin uses this rhetoric, but it’s not so much anti-American as anti-Euro-Atlantic,” says Evgeny Minchenko, a Kremlin-connected political strategist. “And keep in mind that he has tried to stop short of a head-on collision.”

Putin has not yet replied to Obama’s snub, but most experts found it hard to see how he could spin it in his favor. “He can again say that he did not bow to American demands, that he did not obey,” says Alexander Konovalov, an expert on U.S.-Russia affairs at the Moscow Institute of International Relations. But that message has grown hackneyed over the past year of bickering between Moscow and Washington, so it will not earn him many points with the domestic electorate, adds Konovalov.

More here

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@JeffersonObama

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Huge: State Dept will bring 2K Syrian refugees, mostly women and children, to U.S. for permanent resettlement. atfp.co/13Rl1MM

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Andrew Katz (@katz) August 08, 2013

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AP: Obama To Honor Clinton, Oprah With Freedom Medal

Clinton and Oprah Winfrey will be among 16 people that President Barack Obama will venerate later this year with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House announced Thursday. They’ll join other prominent people to be honored this year, including musicians, scientists, activists — even an astronaut. “This year’s honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world,” Obama said in a statement.

Others who will receive the medal: Daniel Inouye, former senator from Hawaii, World War II veteran and the first Japanese American in Congress. Inouye will receive the award posthumously. Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Washington Post who oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of Watergate. Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. Ride will receive the award posthumously. Richard Lugar, former senator from Indiana who worked to reduce the global nuclear threat. Gloria Steinem, writer and prominent women’s rights activist. Ernie Banks, baseball player who hit more than 500 home runs and played 19 seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

Bayard Rustin, civil and gay rights activist and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin will receive the award posthumously. Daniel Kahneman, psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Loretta Lynn, country music singer. Maria Molina, chemist and environmental scientist who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Arturo Sandoval, Grammy-winning jazz musician who was born in Cuba and defected to the U.S. Dean Smith, head coach of University of North Carolina’s basketball team for 36 years. Patricia Wald, first woman appointed to U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and became the court’s chief judge. C.T. Vivian, civil rights leader and minister.

More here

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Stephen Freaking Colbert For The Win!

"This is #Colbchella, goddammit. It's time to #dance." on.cc.com/1esWgvi

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The Colbert Report (@ColbertReport) August 08, 2013

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Who wears it better? #TBT http://t.co/vAXNgiRmYo

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Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 08, 2013

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Photo Of The Day!

Pete Souza: Instagram of Bo in the Oval Office.

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Rise and Shine

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Clare Kim: Obama Talks Surveillance, Hillary, And Trayvon Martin With Leno

On The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, President Obama talked with host Jay Leno about everything from the Affordable Care Act and NSA leaker Edward Snowden to the economy, his relationship with Hillary Clinton, and the death of Trayvon Martin. Leno asked the president about the ongoing skepticism for the NSA surveillance program that collects phone record metadata in order to prevent terrorist attacks. Obama firmly stated that the government has not encroached on the privacy of citizens, and that they have not “abused these powers” in any way. He added that America does not “have a domestic spying program,” but intelligence gathering is “a critical component” for a counter-terrorism program.

Pres. Obama cancels meeting with Russia President Putin next month. - AP

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CNBC's Politics Team (@CNBCPolitics) August 07, 2013

‘What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat, and, you know, that information is useful,” Obama said. “But, you know, what I’ve said before, you know, and I want to make sure I repeat and that is we should be skeptical about the potential encroachments on privacy. None of the revelations show that the government has actually abused these powers, but they are pretty significant powers.” Jay Leno also brought up the recent crackdown on gays in Russia, comparing the country’s treatment of homosexuality to the way Nazi Germany persecuted Jews. President Obama said he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”

Leno told the president he’d spoken eloquently about the death of Trayvon Martin. “I could tell you were speaking from the heart,” he said. “Tell me about that.” He told Leno that he spoke about the case because he “wanted to try to explain why this was a particularly sensitive topic for African-American families because a lot of people who have sons know the experience they had of being followed and being viewed suspiciously…what we also believe in is people, everybody, should be treated fairly and the system should work for everyone. And so what I’m trying to do is just make sure that we have a conversation and that were all asking ourselves ‘are there some things we can do to foster better understanding’ and to make sure we don’t have laws in place that encourage the kind of violent encounter that we saw there that resulted in tragedy.”

More here

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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)

1:00PM: Pres. Obama is interviewed by Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff

3:50PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

5:20PM: Pres. Obama departs Los Angeles

9:50PM: Pres. Obama arrives Joint Base Andrews

10:05PM: Pres. Obama arrives at the White House

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Julie Pace: In Rebuke, Obama Cancels Moscow Summit With Putin

 In a rare diplomatic rebuke, President Barack Obama on Wednesday canceled his Moscow summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The decision reflected both U.S. anger over Russia’s harboring of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and growing frustration within the Obama administration over what it sees as Moscow’s stubbornness on other key issues, including missile defense and human rights.

Obama will still attend the Group of 20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, but a top White House official said the president had no plans to hold one-on-one talks with Putin while there. Instead of visiting Putin in Moscow, the president will add a stop in Sweden to his early September travel itinerary. “We’ll still work with Russia on issues where we can find common ground, but it was the unanimous view of the president and his national security team that a summit did not make sense in the current environment,” Rhodes said.

More here

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Steve Benen: PolitiFact Finds Its Pants On Fire

What Cantor said was the opposite of the truth — he said the nation has a “growing deficit,” when in reality, we have a shrinking deficit. We can have a discussion about whether the House Majority Leader was deliberately trying to deceive the public — Republicans have an incentive to convince the public that U.S. finances are in worse shape than they really are — or whether Cantor simply doesn’t know the basics of current events. But I’m afraid it’s either one or the other. Unless, that is, you’re PolitiFact.

I would have hoped for a “Pants on Fire” rating, but would have settled for at least a “False” conclusion. But the House Majority Leader can make a claim that’s the polar opposite of reality and it’s “half true”? Seriously? In theory, I’m not reflexively opposed to the idea of websites fact-checking important claims made by political figures, but if you’re going to have the word “fact” in your name, you have a responsibility to get the details right. And too often, PolitiFact just isn’t good at its job.

More here

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Since the high point in the Carter administration, manufacturing jobs have been declining for decades. Until now. http://t.co/YEK3YTEwZA

—
Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 02, 2013

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President Barack Obama listens during a health care reform meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Aug. 7, 2009.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Greg Sargent: The GOP’s Fundamental Miscalculation About ObamaCare

What if Republicans — in their drive to repeal and even defund Obamacare — are making the same mistake they made in 2012 about the economy? Last year, Republicans gambled that high public dissatisfaction with Obama’s economic performance meant majorities had concluded that the President had been an abject failure, meaning there was simply no chance he’d be reelected. Instead, exit polls suggested voters didn’t hold Obama to blame for the economy in high enough numbers to ensure his defeat. One possible explanation — advanced by Ron Brownstein, yours truly and others — is that despite their disappointment, they found the sluggishness of the recovery understandable, given the circumstances, and saw the election as a nuanced choice between sticking with a disappointing status quo and a worse alternative. Republicans appeared caught off guard by this.

A similar miscalculation may be guiding the current GOP drive to repeal Obamacare — and the conservative drive to shut down the government to force its defunding.  polls that offer a more nuanced range of options — such as changing the law or repealing parts of it — find only minority support for the GOP position of full repeal. This pattern has been clear for years now. Meanwhile, polls that ask directly whether Republicans should keep blocking the law find majority opposition to that. It seems reasonable to surmise that dissatisfaction with the law may not necessarily translate into broad support for getting rid of it entirely (let alone replacing it with nothing). As in 2012, voters may be taking a longer, more nuanced view than Republicans think.

More here

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President Barack Obama meets with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in the State Dining Room, on Aug. 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Jonathan Capehart: Blacks Could Rock The Vote In 2014 – If They Vote

There was a line in Dan Balz’s terrific analysis of the Republican Party’s political dilemma that kind of bugged me. Not because he was wrong, but because he could be easily disproven. All that’s needed is for black folks to vote. During the 2012 presidential election, Republicans certainly thought past patterns would prevail. Specifically, they thought the coalition of minorities and women, many of whom were first-time voters, wouldn’t return to the polls for two reasons. First, there was a strong belief that because those first-time voters didn’t have a tradition of voting, many of them would stay home on Election Day. Second, there was an even stronger belief that President Obama’s coalition was so disillusioned by what their guy was unable to achieve that they would be too demoralized to vote. Wrong and wrong, again.

Blacks were the only race or ethnic group to show a significant increase between the 2008 and 2012 elections in the likelihood of voting (from 64.7 percent to 66.2 percent). The 2012 increase in voting among blacks continues what has been a long-term trend: since 1996, turnout rates have risen 13 percentage points to the highest levels of any recent presidential election. A House of Representatives returned to Democratic control and the Democratic majority hanging on in the Senate would allow Obama to get his agenda through and get something done for the American people. All that’s required is for the 2014 electorate to be less white than it has ever been.

More here

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President Barack Obama gestures during a roundtable discussion with Hispanic print and web media in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on Aug. 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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 President Barack Obama talks with members of the 2012 Summer White House intern class before a group photo in the East Room of the White House, Aug. 7, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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The President And Leno

Pete Souza: Pres Obama and Jay Leno during a break between segments from tonight’s show

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Rise and Shine – and Heads Up (President Obama in Tampa)

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EDT

6:50 AM President Obama arrives Tampa, Florida

8:45 AM: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Ybor State Museum Park, Tampa

C-Span * CBS * CNN

9:50: Departs Tampa

12:05: Arrives Richmond, Virginia

1:15: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Byrd Park, Richmond, Virginia

2:30: Departs Richmond

CDT

3:25: Arrives Chicago, Illinois

4:10: Votes early in-person

6:0: Departs Chicago

EDT

8:15: Arrives Cleveland, Ohio

8:25: Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport

9:35: Departs Cleveland

11:05: Arrives the White House

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Note sure how long this video will be available on YouTube (it’s not mine!), if it disappears you can see the show here

(Pete Souza)

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Singer Katy Perry performs at a campaign event for President Obama at Doolittle Park in Las Vegas (UPI/David Becker)

(UPI/David Becker)

‘PBO – No Doubt!’ (Tumblr)

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President Obama stops to buy doughnuts at a Krispy Kreme store in Tampa, October 25 (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

President Obama hugs a firefighter who offered up a game of basketball during a visit to a fire house in Tampa, October 25 (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

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Cagle

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Morning everyone 😉 I’ll be back with more, including photos and newsie stuff, later.

Coming Up

‘Chasing the sun to LA’ (Tumblr)

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12:35 AM ET: President Obama Delivers remarks at a campaign event at Doolittle Park, Las Vegas

C-Span * CBS * CNN

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President Obama shares a moment with Jay Leno off set of the Tonight Show at NBC Studios, March 19, 2009 (Pete Souza)

Don’t forget, President Obama is on Jay Leno’s show tonight

You Have a Pre-Existing Condition? Tough.

MSNBC

Feeling Good!

😆

Watch the full video at National Journal

Thanks amk!

evening all

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WAGA, Atlanta

PBO’s interview with WFLA, Tampa here and with KLAS, Las Vegas here

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CBS

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CNN: Mitt Romney’s overall favorable ratings have dropped, while Rick Santorum’s standing has jumped among Republicans, according to a new national survey.

…. In the new survey, 54% of Republicans said they hold a favorable opinion of Romney, while 67% said the same in January. Among all Americans, 34% described the candidate as likable, down from 41% last month.

…. only one presidential candidate in the race has a national favorable rating above the 50% mark: President Barack Obama.

Among all Americans, Obama received positive reviews from 53%, with the poll suggesting he may have grown more popular in recent months.

More here

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Bob Cesca: Regular people are donating to the president’s re-election campaign in record numbers:

According to an analysis by The Huffington Post, the Obama reelection campaign committee, Obama for America, pulled in at least 45 percent of its contributions from donors giving less than $200 during each of the fundraising quarters it was active in 2011…..

This is another strong indicator that the anti-Obama smearfest on the left is out of touch with the rest of the American left…..

More here

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Wednesday: PBO will travel to Master Lock in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last based on American manufacturing and the importance of companies insourcing and investing in America. He will then travel to Los Angeles, California where he will attend campaign events. He will spend the night in Los Angeles.

Thursday: PBO will attend campaign events in Corona del Mar, California before traveling to San Francisco, California to attend campaign events. He will spend the night in San Francisco.

Friday: PBO will travel to the Seattle where he will continue to discuss his blueprint for an economy built to last. He will also attend campaign events in the Seattle area before returning to Washington, D.C. later in the evening.

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From left, Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke confer as President Barack Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the Oval Office, Feb. 14, 2012. Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics; and Lael Brainard, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, are also pictured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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The Week

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Don’t miss Liberal Librarian’s new post at The People’s View

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ABC: For Jenna Lyons, Michelle Obama has been the best endorsement J. Crew has ever received …. (her) penchant for J. Crew clothing has been “the most incredible gift that keeps on giving.” Not only did the company see a “huge lift” in business, Lyons credited Obama, 48, with creating a special bond with customers.

…. When Obama appeared on “The Tonight Show” in 2008 and told Jay Leno that her yellow sweater, skirt and blouse were a “J.Crew ensemble,” the company’s stock went up 8.2 percent. In 2011, Business Insider credited her with contributing to one of the most successful re-branding campaigns ever…

More here

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he was singing their song!

NBC (Thanks Lamh)

good afternoon

Air Force One heads down a snowy runway for takeoff at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo. as President Barack Obama headed back to Washington

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Washington Post: Obama moves to ease student loan burdens

President Obama on Wednesday announced a plan to allow college graduates to cap federal student loan repayments at 10 percent of discretionary income starting in January, two years before the cap was due to take effect under federal law.

The accelerated “pay as you earn” program, which Obama will authorize through executive order, could benefit up to 1.6 million borrowers and reduce their payments by as much as a couple hundred dollars a month, administration officials said. All remaining debt on the federal loans would be forgiven after 20 years – five years earlier than under current law.

Read full article here

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😯

Thanks Esmerelda

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Reuters: …. President Obama’s appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” lifted the show to its highest Tuesday-night ratings since March 2, 2010, the night after Leno returned to the show.

Tuesday’s episode received a 4.1/11 metered-market household rating, a 52 percent leap over his Tuesday-night average so far this season. With Obama’s appearance,” The Tonight Show” handily surpassed “Late Show with David Letterman,” which posted a 2.7/7 household rating, “Nightline,” which drew a 3.6/9, and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” which received a 1.8./6.

Thanks Proud

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Ruth Marcus (Washington Post): In an interview with Parade magazine, the Texas governor declared Obama’s place of birth a “distractive” issue even as he happily latched on to the opportunity to distract ….. It was classic Perry, combining logical incoherence and a smarmy cheap shot.

…. Is this a presidential campaign or a middle-school playground? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours? By the way, if I had Perry’s grades, I wouldn’t be mentioning them. Certainly not if I were running against a former president of the Harvard Law Review.

…. You might think this was the candidate cannily trying to have it both ways: a nod to the birther crazies with a simultaneous wink at those who know this is a ridiculous distraction. Except that Perry managed to step on his real message of the day: his unaffordable and unfair proposal to “simplify” the tax code – by grafting a flat-tax alternative onto the existing system.

…. The matter of Obama’s birth certificate should be a closed case. It is astonishing that a sitting governor, no less a serious candidate for president, would stoop to playing this game.

… The country is facing serious problems. This will be a fateful election. Voters deserve better than scare tactics and drivel.

Full article here

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President Obama returns a salute as he steps off Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House as he returned from a three day trip to Nevada, California and Colorado.

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See here for more information

Thanks Marlz

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