President Obama wrote the year’s most talked-about science paper bit.ly/2hp9zJm https://t.co/04dCismfrF
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Scientific American (@sciam) December 15, 2016
President Barack Obama speaks during the White House Precision Medicine Initiative Summit. President Obama announced the precision medicine initiative last year to accelerate research efforts into new treatments that are tailored to individual patients
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moderator Dr. James Hamblin, Sonia Vallabh, Ph.D. student at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Howard Look, president and founder of Tidepool, and Dr. W. Marston Linehan, chief of the urologic oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute
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Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL Brett McGurk, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford stand alongside President Barack Obama as he makes a statement after meeting with his National Security Council at the State Department
President Barack Obama talks with Alyssa Mastromonaco, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and Trip Director Marvin Nicholson in an elevator at the Bridgeport Arts Center in Chicago, Ill., Aug. 12, 2012. Photo by Pete Souza
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President Obama is getting seriously serious about supercomputing — here's why that's awesome: bit.ly/1Tbpo40
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Mic (@micnews) August 10, 2015****
Gird your technological loins, world: President Barack Obama is paving the way for the Usain Bolt of computers with the processing power of the human brain. A technology program called the National Strategic Computing Initiative seeks to invest heavily in high-performance hardware. The goal is to position the United States as the king of the supercomputing mountain. The speed it’s going for: one exaflop, or almost 30 times faster than the fastest computer in the world, China’s Tianhe-2, below. He’s thinking about saving the world. Or at least making it better. With an exaflop of computing power, scientists and researchers would be able to run incredibly complex and accurate simulations, like simulating the global climate to make global warming predictions.
The ability to handle a lot of data might be the supercomputer’s largest contribution. Think of all the simulations you can run: modeling aircraft, modeling guns, predicting weather anomalies or even figuring out long-term dilemmas, like what the agricultural industry’s impact will be in, say, 50 years.Medicine takes all kinds of analysis, deep dives into our DNA and biological informatics — things that take a level of computing power we’ve scratched but haven’t come close to mastering. The White House’s Precision Medicine Initiative would use high-performance computing to collect and create huge amounts of health and genomic data to tailor treatment for individuals.
More here
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Incredibly honored to sign SB 144 in honor of Beau Biden. His legacy of protecting DE's children lives on @DelKids http://t.co/rdeljYKwz3
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Gov. Jack Markell (@GovernorMarkell) August 11, 20153 dozen retired U.S. Generals and Admirals agree: "There is no better option to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon." wpo.st/NoAU0
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WH National Security (@NSCPress) August 11, 2015****
Twenty-nine of the nation’s top scientists, including 6 Nobel Laureates, say the #IranDeal is a good deal. nyti.ms/1PeWEBu
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Sen. Barbara Boxer (@SenatorBoxer) August 10, 2015The best option to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb and avoiding another war in the Middle East is this deal. huff.to/1MWDVvt
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Sen. Barbara Boxer (@SenatorBoxer) August 07, 2015****
.@POTUS today: #IranDeal based on hard, cold logic & our ability to verify that Iran's not pursuing a nuclear weapon n.pr/1f3A3Ld
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Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) August 11, 2015Here are my reasons to support agreement that's our best available option to put brakes on Iran nuclear weapon: bit.ly/1DKgoM2
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Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 11, 2015****
There is no better deal possible - 92 nations and counting strongly support the #IranDeal twitter.com/SenFeinstein/s…
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Sen. Barbara Boxer (@SenatorBoxer) August 11, 2015Important op-ed from Sandy Berger debunking the myth that there is a "better" Iran agreement to be had. politico.com/magazine/story… #IranDeal
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Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) August 11, 2015****
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk in the Blue Room of the White House before the start of the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony on Aug. 12, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama hugs Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient actor Sidney Poitier during the award ceremony in the East Room of the White House, on Aug. 12, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Joseph Medicine Crow shows a drum to President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during a reception for recipients and their families in the Blue Room of the White House on Aug. 12, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama greet guests at a reception for Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients and their families in the Blue Room of the White House on Aug. 12, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama waits in the Blue Room of the White House for the start of an East Room ceremony to present 16 individuals the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Aug. 12, 2009. Standing in the background, from left, are Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients; Muhammad Yunus, Stuart Milk, nephew of slain San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, and former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama talks with Stephen Hawking in the Blue Room of the White House before a ceremony presenting him and 15 others the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Aug. 12, 2009. The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Photo by Pete Souza
Medicare, the U.S. program for the elderly and disabled, said payments for hospital admissions would fall $756 million next year as penalties stiffen for patients who return too early. Payments for inpatient services at about 3,400 acute-care hospitals will be cut about 0.6 percent in 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a regulatory filing,
including reductions in funding for hospitals who provide care for many low-income patients, those with too many patients who contract infections while admitted and higher penalties for readmissions within 30 days. The Obama administration has applauded reduced Medicare spending for hospital admissions, a trend encouraged by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that has added 13 years to the life of Medicare’s key trust fund.
More here
@NerdyWonka @BRios82 Thanks to Obamacare my wife lives to be able to say thank you and Happy Birthday Mr. President.
— Carlo (@Medvedev123456) August 4, 2014
How much LESS are people with subsides paying under Obamacare? An average of $264 A MONTH. http://t.co/WJc4qsMcvT pic.twitter.com/Mszxr6XHSp
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 6, 2014
The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is working: The uninsured rate has fallen dramatically since the law went into effect. Newly released data published in The New England Journal of Medicine show that 10.3 million adults gained coverage during the first open enrollment period. According to a recent Commonwealth Fund survey, 60 percent of those with new coverage said they used their coverage to go to the doctor or hospital or to fill a prescription; 62 percent of those people said they would not have been able to do so without their new coverage. Moreover, of those who were looking for a doctor, two-thirds said they were able to get an appointment within two weeks. People are happy with their coverage. Overall, 78 percent of those surveyed said they were either somewhat
satisfied or very satisfied with their new coverage. This is about the same rate as those reported by both people who were previously insured and by those who newly gained coverage. Even 74 percent of self-identified Republicans reported being satisfied with their coverage. The ACA has not only led to millions of Americans getting health care coverage, but it has also benefited the country as a whole. Earlier this month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, reported that the ACA is helping slow the growth rate of health care costs, which has positive consequences for the federal budget. It is also helping strengthen the solvency of Medicare.
More here
In this analysis of nationally representative survey data from January 2012 through June 2014, we found a significant decline in the uninsured rate among nonelderly adults that coincided with the initial open-enrollment period under the ACA. These changes remained highly significant after adjustment for potential confounders such as employment, demographic characteristics, and income. As compared with the baseline trend, the uninsured rate declined by 5.2 percentage points by the second quarter of 2014, a 26% relative decline from the 2012–2013 period. Combined with 2014 Census estimates of 198 million adults 18 to 64 years of age, this corresponds to 10.3 million adults gaining coverage, although depending on the model and confidence intervals,
our sensitivity analyses imply a wide range from 7.3 to 17.2 million adults. Absolute gains were largest among young adults and Hispanics, two groups with high uninsured rates at baseline. We found evidence that within the first 6 months of gaining insurance, more adults reported having a personal doctor and fewer had difficulties paying for medical care — even though the latter measure asked about the prior 12 months. These results are consistent with studies of previous insurance expansions that have shown that gains in coverage can lead to rapid improvements in access. In conclusion, we found that the number of Americans without health insurance declined significantly since the ACA open-enrollment period began in October 2013.
More here
Original video here
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First Lady Michelle Obama waits with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg in the Green Room of the White House before making remarks to the White House Historical Association, Oct. 31. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
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This is excellent:
GOPolitico: Anchors from nine local television affiliates will spend a day behind the scenes at the White House on Tuesday, meeting with top officials and getting brief individual interviews with President Obama before broadcasting evening newscasts from the South Lawn.
“Live from the White House” is a 21st-century update to the “radio row” tradition, which brought talk-show hosts to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to interview West Wing officials going from microphone to microphone during their drive-time shows.
The White House is building risers on the South Lawn for the evening newscasts, which are being spread out by time zones – three from the East, two from Central, one from Mountain and two from Pacific.
The anchors will get to ask White House press secretary Jay Carney a question during the daily press briefing; have lunch with senior adviser David Plouffe; interview a White House staffer from each station’s home market; get an on-camera tour with a White House curator; and tour the White House kitchen garden with Sam Kass, White House assistant chef and policy adviser.
The ringmaster is Josh Earnest, principal deputy White House press secretary, who said the mission is “to increase interest and raise the profile of the president’s efforts to strengthen the economy and create jobs in local communities across the country, and explain to Americans how their communities will benefit from the president’s agenda.”
The stations and their anchors will be from Portland, Ore. (KGW, NBC, Tracy Barr); Phoenix (KSAZ, Fox, John Hook); Denver (KUSA, NBC, Adele Arakawa); Minneapolis (WCCO, CBS, Amelia Santaniello); Houston (KTRK, ABC, Dave Ward); Omaha (KETV, ABC, Rob McCartney); Tampa (WTVT, Fox, Mark Wilson); Hampton Roads (WAVY, NBC, Tom Schaad); and Philadelphia (WPVI, ABC, Brian Taff). A 10th participant will be Nikole Killion, representing Hearst stations.
“The highlight of the day will be an opportunity to briefly interview the President from the Cabinet Room about the American Jobs Act,” Earnest said. “The anchors will also interview Cabinet secretaries … about how the bipartisan proposals included in the president’s American Jobs Act would create jobs in their community and put money in the pocket of every single American worker and small business owner.”
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Also tomorrow: The President has a ceremony at which he’ll sign a proclamation – which the White House will identify later tonight … discusses legislative strategy with House Democratic Leaders ….. welcomes the crew of the final space shuttle mission to the Oval Office ….. The First Lady holds a Let’s Move event for children In New Orleans and does fundraisers in New Orleans and Houston …. On Wednesday the President will push for $60 billion in new spending in an 11:25 am ET speech in front of the Key Bridge at Georgetown’s Waterfront Park in Washington, DC.
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AP: President Barack Obama is in excellent health and tobacco free, his doctor said Monday in the results of the president’s second physical exam since taking office.
In the two-page report released by the White House, Dr. Jeffrey C. Kuhlman also said Obama is physically active, eats a healthy diet, stays at a healthy weight, and on occasion drinks alcohol in moderation.
“The president is in excellent health and ‘fit for duty’,” Kuhlman wrote. “All clinical data indicate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency.”
….. The president is 6-foot-1 and weighs 181.3 pounds, according to the report. His blood pressure was recorded at 107 over 71, up from 105 over 62 in February 2010, but still well within the normal range.
…. The president also has “periodic physical therapy” to deal with recurrent upper right back pain, and he had benign skin tags removed from his neck.
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Eugene Robinson: Responding to his insurgent campaign’s first crisis, Herman Cain was upbeat and defiant. “To quote my chief of staff and all the people around this country, ‘Let Herman be Herman,’ ” he said Monday. “And Herman is gonna stay Herman.”
I was afraid of that.
Cain’s policy positions range from the ignorant to the unworkable to the just plain goofy – and yet he is running first or second in most polls for the Republican presidential nomination. He trumpets his utter lack of government experience as a selling point and boasts of not knowing foreign leaders’ names. If through some bizarre series of events he were actually elected president, the result would surely be an unmitigated disaster.
It’s not yet clear whether this remote possibility has been made even more unlikely by reports that Cain faced allegations of sexual harassment from two female employees when he headed the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.
…. He needs to answer more questions about the alleged harassment …. I hope he does, because we’re running out of bandwidth. Cain’s famous “9-9-9” tax plan would be ruinous. He wants to privatize Social Security. He believes that “extensive foreign policy experience” is not something a president needs, since when he was named chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, “I had never made a pizza – but I learned.”
So many reasons to oppose this loopy candidacy, so little time.
Full article here
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😆 – thank you Marlz
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Nothing more to say
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This is a real Tea Party banner. Seriously.
CBS: The proposed 2012 budget that Republican Rep. Paul Ryan put forward today seemingly plays right into Democrats’ hands by proposing massive changes to Medicare…
The Republican party launched aggressive attacks against Democrats in the midterm elections for voting for President Obama’s health care reforms, which also included significant changes to the program….
Ryan’s plan would dramatically transform the health care plan for seniors. Instead of providing those over 65 with government-run health care, seniors starting in 2022 would receive “premium support” (subsidies given directly to insurance providers) to get the health care of their choice from private insurers….
Many Republicans have praised Ryan’s efforts today, but much of the praise has been reserved for Ryan’s leadership, rather than the substance of the proposal itself. Some of those Republicans may have 2010 in mind, when the GOP hammered the Democratic health care plan, which included $500 billion in Medicare cuts.
“Seniors do not want senators fooling with Medicare,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Dec. 4, 2009, ahead of the congressional votes on the legislation. “Let me say that again: Seniors do not want senators fooling with Medicare. They want us to fix it, to strengthen it… not raid it like a giant piggy bank to create some entirely new government program.”
…the Democratic health care plan provided potent fodder for the midterm elections. Republican Dan Coats, now the junior senator for Indiana, ran an ad against his 2010 opponent, Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth that blasted him for failing to “protect seniors”…….Coats office has not responded to an inquiry from Hotsheet as to whether he supports Ryan’s proposed budget.
Similarly, Republican Pat Toomey, now the junior senator for Pennsylvania, ran a 2010 ad railing against his opponent Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak for supporting the health care overhaul.
…”This budget is more proof that Tea Party extremists have toppled the Republican House leadership and completely taken over,” said Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.). “The House Republican Tea Partiers started with cuts to Head Start, education and medical research, and now they want to privatize Medicare. If you are a child seeking an education or an older American seeking health care, the Tea Party budget is toxic to your future.”
Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey (Calif.) said the Ryan plan is “one of the most callous and reckless proposals I’ve seen during 18 years in Congress” and it amounts to “destroying Medicare.”
Democratic Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.) said that expert analysis shows the Ryan plan would “make deep cuts to the Medicare benefits seniors count on. It would end Medicare as we know it and funnel Medicare dollars directly into private insurance companies’ pockets.”
Full article here
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