Michelle Obama greets kids at Martha’s Vineyard library bos.gl/ha4KZc9
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Boston Globe Metro (@GlobeMetro) October 19, 2019Posts Tagged ‘Library
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Oct
19
A Vineyard Visit
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Dec
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Waitlist Be Gone
My grandpa got Michelle Obama’s book for Christmas, started crying, and then said, “I can take myself off of the wa… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
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olivia (@olivia_rayy) December 26, 201812
May
15
A Tweet Or Two
We're thrilled to announce that the Obama Center will be #RootedInChicago. Let @BarackObama & @FLOTUS do the honors: youtu.be/d2Q3xFpf-KE
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The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) May 12, 2015The Obama Library goes to Chicago, but Foundation says NYC and Honolulu don't leave empty-handed http://t.co/bqnR2mTEie
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Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) May 12, 2015****
Barack Obama Presidential Center #Chicago Announcement (Full Version) youtu.be/FcFzEkqRIaI
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Dudette (@Dudette9t9) May 12, 2015Barack Obama Foundation - Maya Soetoro-Ng Message for Hawai’i youtu.be/j3TLDVdKIhY
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Dudette (@Dudette9t9) May 12, 2015****
Your potential replacement for Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill: Harriet Tubman wapo.st/1IyEqsS http://t.co/oF6pyUHM3f
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Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 12, 2015Obama administration stands up to health insurers on birth control coverage and more. My latest @Eclectablog: eclectablog.com/2015/05/obama-…
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Amy Lynn Smith (@alswrite) May 12, 2015****
America. *Sigh*
19-year-old dies in Indiana police custody on 5/11 usatoday.com/story/news/nat… http://t.co/IdiYJZww6y
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deray mckesson (@deray) May 12, 2015The hanging death of #RooseveltChampion has been officially deemed a suicide. myfoxatlanta.com/story/29033480… http://t.co/KRzG5iDQlx
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deray mckesson (@deray) May 12, 2015****
No Charges For NYPD Cop Who ‘Stopped and Frisked’ 14 YR old & Smashed His Head Through Window countercurrentnews.com/2015/05/no-cha… http://t.co/p1Ah2a5NSd
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thoughtcrime (@rawdawgbuffalo) May 12, 2015"I believe that we will win." Hundreds March to Capitol #TonyRobinson http://t.co/No5suHRN03
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Curtis Sails III (@CurtisSails) May 12, 2015****
No charges for Officer Matthew Kenny, who shot and killed Tony Robinson Jr. in Madison, WI in March washingtonpost.com/news/post-nati…
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Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) May 12, 2015I didn't have to watch the livestream. I didn't have to read an article. I didnt even have to look on Twitter. I knew that cop would go free
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KayRay (@RE_invent_ED) May 12, 2015****
THIS---> US cited for police violence, racism in scathing UN review on human rights via @AJAM alj.am/1zTRhV8
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Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) May 12, 2015Black men in Madison are more likely to be killed by police than a car accident. #TonyRobinson http://t.co/mRKpixIykL
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deray mckesson (@deray) May 12, 2015****
Not only are black people presumed guilty.
We are presumed worthy of EXECUTION until proven otherwise
#BlackLivesMatter
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5'7 Black Male (@absurdistwords) May 12, 2015Prove he was a good kid.
Prove he wasn't on drugs
Prove he didn't like rap
Prove he got good grades
Prove he deserved to live.
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5'7 Black Male (@absurdistwords) May 12, 2015****
Some days, it’s too much. Parents, children, families are being killed everyday. Some days, it’s too much
You try to remember a time when the name of a dead black person and a cop wasn’t in your head. A new name arrives. A new cop arrives.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015You look across the office at black coworker sitting at her desk. You wonder if she knows the name of this dead black person and this cop.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
You want to ask her but you’re so tired and she’s so far away — and there are the names of all these dead black people and cops between you.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015You consider getting the names of this dead black person and that dead black person and that dead black person tattooed on your body.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
But there will always be more names of dead black people and cops. And you only have so much body, so much black skin.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015Your white coworkers will read your tweets about dead black people and cops and waver, unsure of what to say. They check their scripts.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
You try to remember the last time your wore a hoodie.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015You wonder if America will ever need to learn your name, your son’s name, your sister’s name. You wonder if #YourName will trend.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
You want to be parent one day but not in this America.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015White people who didn’t know your name until they saw your tweet just now tweet you about cops defending themselves against thugs.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
You turn into fog for a moment and no one even notices.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015You ask no one and everyone “At this point, what black person wouldn’t run from a cop pointing a gun at them?”
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
“A village is always somewhere burning / And if you do not look because it is not your village / it is still your village.” - Elana Bell
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015Sometimes you’ve just gotta put “Jolene” by Dolly Parton on repeat and act like America isn’t trying to systematically kill you.
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Saeed Jones (@theferocity) May 12, 2015****
formula for a no-indict announcement
1) late start
2) irrelevant rambling
3) victim smearing
4) announcement
#TonyRobinson #MikeBrown
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Hmmm... (@AmandaMichelle) May 12, 2015This DA could've released a statement, instead he chose to smear #TonyRobinson in a press conference.
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Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) May 12, 2015****
18
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.
More here
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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.
First Lady Michelle Obama presents a 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service to Mystic Aquarium, of Mystic, Conn., represented by Justin Richard, far left, and aquarium President and CEO Stephen Coan, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries for service to the community.
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North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, represented by museum Director Emlyn Koster, and Molly Paul, of Raleigh, N.C.,
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, New York, represented by Chidi Duke, and Library President Scott Medbury
Chicago Public Library Commissioner Brian Bannon (C) and community member Chris Force
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis President and CEO Jeffrey Patchen, holds the museum’s 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service as Spencer Hahn, who had a stroke in-utero, whistles by his mother Erica Hahn and First Lady Michelle Obama
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Star Tribune: Michelle Obama Honors 10 Outstanding Museums And Libraries, Including In Her Chicago Hometown
Museums and libraries are playing an important role in a country that is aiming to provide a top-flight education to its children, Michelle Obama said Thursday as she helped honor 10 institutions from across the U.S. for outstanding community service. “Welcome to a little museum that we like to call the White House,” she said to open an East Room ceremony where she handed representatives of each institution a wooden frame that held their medal and a certificate.
The first lady said the institutions’ programs “help us expand our horizon and connect us to with the rest of the world.” She highlighted such offerings as summer expeditions to excavate dinosaur bones alongside professional paleontologists and opportunities to learn marine biology through the feeding and training of beluga whales. “The work that you do in the summers and throughout the year, quite frankly, is filling a crucial role for our country as we strive to give our young people a world-class education,” Mrs. Obama said.
More here
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Octavia Fellin Public Library, of Gallup, N.M., represented by Maria Elena Reyes, far left, and library Director Mary Ellen Pellington
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History represented by Ernesto Vargas, far left, and museum Director Michael Mares
Mid-Continent Public Library, of Independence, Missouri, represented by Alicia Moore, and library Director and CEO Steven Potter
Yiddish Book Center, of Amherst, Mass., represented by Peter Manseau, far left, and center Founder and President Aaron Lansky
Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, represented by Avree Walker, a dancer and student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and district Executive Director Jeanne Goodrich
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May
14
Chat Away
First Lady Michelle Obama presents the 2014 National Medal for Museum and Library Service at the White House, May 8
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Apr
14
Chat Away
First Lady Michelle Obama sits on the floor of the Library of the White House as she answers question from “kid reporters”.
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WBZ-TV’s Lisa Hughes’ Exclusive Interview with President Obama | CBS Local – Yahoo Screen https://t.co/hFSn2gK96X via @YahooScreen
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) April 21, 2014
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02
Feb
14
Rise and Shine
Feb. 2, 2009 – Pete Souza: “The light was streaming through the windows behind his Oval Office desk as the President talked with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.”
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A brotha is FINALLY getting some health insurance, thank you Mr. President!
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Marc (not Mark) (@DrMarctagon) January 30, 2014****
Washington Post: Life After Jan. 1: Kentucky Clinic Offers Early Glimpse At Realities Of Health-Care Law
The envelopes began arriving in December across eastern Kentucky, one of the sickest and poorest corners of the country. “Dear member . . . We want you to be healthy . . .” read the letter to Mary Combs, and with it came a plastic card representing the first insurance she ever had: a Medicaid plan made possible by the nation’s new health-care law, effective Jan. 1. Nine days into the new year, the 41-year-old call-center worker headed to the health clinic on Highway 15. She saw a doctor about her chronic stomach ulcers, had her blood drawn for tests and collected referrals for all the specialists she had been told she needed but could never afford. The next week, she saw a neurologist, who found lesions on her brain and prescribed medicine for the cluster headaches, which are also called “suicide headaches” for pain that is far more intense than a migraine and which Combs had been treating with an alcohol-soaked cloth wrapped around her head.
“That’s the big question — does getting insurance bend the cost curve or the health outcomes curve?” said Karen Ditsch, the executive director of Juniper Health, which runs the nonprofit Breathitt clinic. Life since Jan. 1: The number of uninsured has dropped by 520 people, which represents about 21 percent of the those without coverage. Of that 520, 472 qualified under the health-care law’s expanded income parameters for Medicaid, which is aimed at the working poor. Here and there, for-profit clinics that never accepted the uninsured have hung “Welcome new patients!” signs on doors. A new blue billboard hovering above the Hardee’s advertises surgery to treat acid reflux.
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Hot off the press at #RWJFRR - Kentucky official says 195,502 have used Kynect to get coverage (up by 12,000 this week). 44,160 are in QHPs.
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Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) January 31, 2014****
Michael Hiltzik: What’s Behind Anthem’s Huge Premium Increase? Not Obamacare
Insurance companies, bless their hearts, seem determined to remind us why we need the Affordable Care Act. The latest example comes from Anthem Blue Cross, which has just hit 306,000 customers in California with premium increases of up to 25%. As reported by my colleague Chad Terhune, the increases average 16% and are scheduled to kick in April 1, unless the state Department of Insurance jawbones Anthem into backing down.
Here’s the kicker: No one can blame these increases on the mandates of the Affordable Care Act, a popular argument among critics of the act. That’s because the increases are for grandfathered policies exempt from the act.
“It’s a rich irony,” says Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a leading California consumer advocacy group. “The insurers can’t have it both ways — they can’t blame the increases on the ACA while increasing rates on their non-ACA-compliant plans as well.” Luckily, Anthem customers have a choice this time around. They can check the state’s insurance exchange at coveredca.com to see if they can replace their old plan with a new one that might well be better, at lower cost.
More here
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Why? Because corporatists are spinning the political dialogue and STUPID PEOPLE are buying it. http://t.co/bLMl3gqVS5
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RC deWinter (@RCdeWinter) February 02, 2014****
Sandra Fluke: What Mike Huckabee Wants To Take Away From Women
Memo to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and the bosses at for-profit corporations who think they belong in every doctor’s office and that they should be able to decide whether their employees have access to birth control: Women who use birth control do not have an “overactive libido.” We are not looking for a handout from “Uncle Sugar” to score a contraceptive fix. We are not sluts. This is not the reality for women — it never has been and never will be.
In fact, women who use birth control are your mother, partner, sister, and daughter. Ninety-nine percent of sexually active American women have used birth control at some point in their lives. We are just regular people trying to take care of ourselves medically and financially. That’s why seven in ten Americans believe that health insurance companies should be required to cover the full cost of birth control, just as they do for other preventive services.
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Jonathan Cohn: Farewell To Henry Waxman, A Liberal Hero
One of America’s most accomplished lawmakers—a crusader responsible for cleaner air, safer food, and healthier kids—is calling it a career. On Thursday, Congressman Henry Waxman announced that he would retire at the end of this term, 40 years after he first came to Congress. The list of laws for which he deserves substantial credit is simply staggering—not only for its length, but also for its breadth. Waxman was behind the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, plus laws regulating lead, greenhouse gas emissions, and formaldehyde. That arguably makes him his generation’s most influential lawmaker on environmental issues.
He was also behind a series of Medicaid expansions, the Ryan White Care Act, the Orphan Drug Act, the Waxman-Hatch Generic Drug Act, and, of course, the Affordable Care Act. That almost certainly makes him the most influential living lawmaker on health care issues. Other major accomplishments include the Food Quality Protection Act and the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act—and, somewhere along the way, he found time to modernize the postal service. How has Waxman done it? For one thing, Waxman recognizes that lawmaking requires patience and persistence—that you have to build the case for legislation, through investigations and stagecraft, even if that takes years or even decades.
More here
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@chucktodd @meetthepress this the process laid out originally, so not moved
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Dan Pfeiffer (@pfeiffer44) February 02, 2014****
@chucktodd @meetthepress yep, always been the process
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Dan Pfeiffer (@pfeiffer44) February 02, 2014****
.@pfeiffer44 @chucktodd @meetthepress right. And @PressSec laid out process Friday including comment period for other agencies
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Matt Lehrich (@Lehrich44) February 02, 2014****
Hannah Allam: Kerry’s First Year As Top U.S. Diplomat Yields Breakthroughs On Thorny Issues
A year ago, John Kerry succeeded Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, joking on one of his first days at work that he had “big heels to fill.” Now a year into his role as America’s top diplomat, Kerry has proven that any trepidation about following such a high-profile figure was misplaced. Kerry’s anniversary this week – he assumed office on Feb. 1, 2013 – finds him, in the opinion of foreign policy analysts, with more significant, concrete breakthroughs than Clinton had in her entire four-year term. As showpieces they hold up the nuclear deal with Iran and the chemical weapons pact with Syria.
A year into Kerry’s tenure, Ross said, the picture from Asia is brighter. Ross, who’s in Beijing for six months, said U.S. diplomacy has brought about improved cooperation with China on North Korea, including landmark banking and other sanctions. And while there are still no U.S.-Chinese military agreements, he said, there are deeper military contacts so that American officials can “pick up the phone and call them if there’s an escalation.” “Secretary Kerry speaks with a quieter voice and made real policy adjustments,” Ross said. “The quiet approach has been more useful than his predecessor’s.”
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How many hours it would take you to make a living working at Costco vs. Walmart? bit.ly/1k8jBXO http://t.co/i216UBU5qI
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Mother Jones (@MotherJones) January 29, 2014****
Robert McCoppin and Lolly Bowean: Low Wage Workers Struggle To Get By
In the bitter cold, dark hours of the night, as many others are sleeping, Rocio Caravantes begins her hourlong journey on public transportation from her home in Logan Square to one of her two jobs downtown. Once she arrives at work, Caravantes spends hours vacuuming and scrubbing floors, polishing sinks and toilets, cleaning the bar areas and event spaces and tidying up the rugs in an upscale luxury hotel where she can’t afford to spend a night. Panic at times grips her as she thinks about how she will pay all her bills, she said.
“It is impossible to live on $8.25 an hour,” Caravantes said in Spanish, through an interpreter. “Not even three jobs are enough. I earn $495 biweekly. The first check goes to rent — it’s $500 a month. The second is for transportation, food, (phone) and education.” Caravantes, 40, is one example of the minimum wage workers who have become the focus of a national conversation about salaries for the working poor. It’s a political debate in the Illinois governor’s race, and Gov. Pat Quinn used his State of the State address last week to renew his push for an increase in the state minimum wage. President Barack Obama weighed in on the issue too when he asked Congress to increase the federal wage to $10.10.
But the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., paints a broader portrait of low-wage workers. “People tend to think of low-wage workers as teenagers who are working on the weekends for extra spending money,” said David Cooper, an analyst with the institute. “While that is a portion of these workers, the vast majority don’t fit that stereotype.” According to the institute’s research, more than half of low-wage workers are older than 30.
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Jacob J. Lew: MyRA: A Start To A Secure Retirement
As President Barack Obama made clear in his State of the Union address, it is time to focus on restoring opportunity for all. That means helping to make sure more Americans can take part in our growing economy and build some economic security for the long term. To get that done, we are putting forward real, concrete solutions to our most pressing problems – from college affordability and job training to fair wages and a stable retirement. This program, which will begin later this year, is called myRA or My Retirement Account. This account is designed to help low- and middle-income workers, who are too often overlooked or ignored, begin saving for retirement. We are talking about the waitress who is holding down two part-time jobs to support her kids; the recent graduate who landed a job but is grappling with student loans; the janitor who has never been given the chance to invest in a retirement account.
Here is how myRA, which is simple, safe and affordable, will work. You will be able to start saving with an initial deposit of as little as $25 and contribute as little as $5 each payday. If an employer chooses to participate, contributions are made through automatic payroll deductions, making them hassle-free. There are no fees – 100 percent of any contribution goes into the account and is invested in a Treasury security. That means it will be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, will earn the same interest rate that is available to federal employees for their retirement savings, and the balance will never go down. Finally, myRA is not tied to any one employer – it belongs to the worker, not the workplace. In other words, the account is portable and can be easily rolled into a Roth IRA. And if myRA savers ever need to, they can withdraw their contributions tax-free, at any time.
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Christie alleges #BridgeGate official will "say anything to save" himself in new email: talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris…
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Talking Points Memo (@TPM) February 01, 2014****
Brian Murphy: Well, That Escalated Quickly
It is utterly irrelevant if Chris Christie ‘wins the day’ or the weekend or the next 5 minutes or the next week. Irrelevant. The bottom line is that he is in serious trouble, politically and legally. On the legal front, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey is probing allegations by the mayor of Hoboken that a member of Christie’s cabinet and the lieutenant governor linked federal Hurricane Sandy relief funds to the the mayor’s support for a redevelopment project in Hoboken that would exclusively benefit one of Christie’s closest allies – whom he appointed to chair the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
This morning on his MSNBC show Steve Kornacki discussed reporting he and I (and producer Jack Bohrer) did showing that those federal Hurricane Sandy funds have not been monitored by the Christie Administration as required by a law that Christie himself signed last March. Furthermore, relief funds have been extremely hard to account for because Christie vetoed a bill that would have created a single website to track Sandy funding and contract information. Based on the reactions of two congressmen who watched the report with me, officials in Washington will be loath to trust Christie with the next round of federal funds and we should not be surprised if an investigation is on the horizon.
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Questions about the Foundation or President Obama’s future library? Find the answers: obamapresidentialfoundation.org/about#faq
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The Obama Foundation (@44Foundation) January 31, 2014****
Chicago Tribune: Push To Bring Obama Library To Chicago Begins
The push to build Barack Obama’s presidential library officially got underway Friday with the establishment of a foundation managed by three of his longtime supporters. “The president’s future library will one day serve as an important part of our nation’s historical record, and our mission is to build a library that tells President Obama’s remarkable story in an interactive way that will inspire future generations to become involved in public service,” Nesbitt said.
The foundation is responsible for developing a library that reflects Obama’s values and priorities, according to Nesbitt. He said it will focus on economic opportunity, inspiring an ethic of American citizenship and promoting peace, justice and dignity around the world, among other things.
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Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
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On This Day:
St Louis, Feb. 2, 2008
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Pete Souza: “White House valets had moved the sofas in the Oval Office to accommodate the large number of press photographers that were covering the President’s meeting with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas. When the photo-op ended, the President said to Gov. Douglas, ‘let’s move the sofas back in place.’ Gov. Douglas didn’t quite know what to do as the President did the heavy lifting. The valets now good-naturedly cringe when they look at this picture because it was their responsibility to move the sofas back in place.” Feb. 2, 2009
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President Obama walks to the Oval Office after returning to the White House following a trip to Nashua, N.H., Feb. 2, 2010 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
First Lady Michelle Obama speaking alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, on childhood obesity during a meeting with Cabinet and Congressional members in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, February 2, 2010
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Vice President Joe Biden talks with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., after President Barack Obama signed the New START Treaty in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2011. Behind them, the President talks with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama is updated on the severe winter storm currently moving across the country during a phone call with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Vice President Joe Biden snaps a photo of President Barack Obama and keynote speaker Eric Metaxas during the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
