On This Day: President Obama greets members of the Byrd family at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., July 2, 2010. The President and Vice President Joe Biden attended the memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd, who died June 28, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today (all times Eastern)
12:0: The President meets with economists for lunch, Old Family Dining Room
12:30: Josh Earnest briefs the press
4:05: The President meets with Secretary of Treasury Lew
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Charles Pierce: You Have No Excuse for Not Voting. Not Anymore.
We get the government we deserve, and we are on track for one that is heedless of concern for women’s health, and poised to eliminate unions.
… Over the weekend, I watched the PBS documentary on Freedom Summer, the effort 50 years ago to register African Americans to vote in the state of Mississippi, the effort that cost so many people so dearly, especially the families of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner, who were beaten and shot to death, and buried in a dam, because the state of Mississippi had local police forces shot through with the Ku Klux Klan.
Now, five decades later, with a Republican House far gone into nihilistic vandalism, and with the Senate hanging in the balance, and a Supreme Court one septuagenarian’s heartbeat away from a return to the golden days of the last Gilded Age, and a Democratic president in the White House on whom those responsible for the previous three phenomena have painted a bullseye, we keep hearing about how hard it is going to be for the Democratic party to turn out its voters this fall to take advantage of the opportunities for which Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner gave their lives, and did so in my lifetime, not in a distant antebellum episode in some backwater.
So there really isn’t any excuse any more.
More here
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Today In 1964: Pres. Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law and gives a pen to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. http://t.co/F3tBPYdLnF
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 2, 2014
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The Very Brilliant:
VoteRiders
Mission
VoteRiders is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their right to vote. Through resources and media exposure, VoteRiders supports on-the-ground organizations that assist citizens to secure their voter ID and inspires local volunteers and communities to sustain such programs and galvanize others to emulate these efforts.
How We Started
Knowing that millions of potential voters may be disenfranchised by the increasing number of stringent voter ID laws, Kathleen Unger decided to take action. With her extensive professional and volunteer experience in the non-profit sector, Ms. Unger decided to start her own non-profit dedicated to helping citizens to obtain their voter ID so they can exercise their fundamental right to vote. It was important to Ms. Unger that VoteRiders not duplicate what other organizations are doing to protect the right to vote. Thus, VoteRiders was founded in April 2012.
More here
Follow VoteRiders on Twitter here
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Steve Benen: Obama no longer cares whether the GOP is outraged
It’s become clear in recent weeks that President Obama and congressional Republicans are reading from very different scripts. The notion that the two institutional forces are butting heads is plainly wrong – they are two trains on separate tracks moving in completely different directions.
…. Clearly, the president’s willingness to keep governing without them has only enraged congressional Republicans – who were already livid. But it’s now obvious that the president simply does not care. Not even a little. The more GOP lawmaker scream, “No more executive actions!” the more Obama thinks to himself, “I wonder what other executive actions I can take.”
….. this is a president who no longer cares whether his unhinged critics are unhappy.
Full post here
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Women—not their bosses—should be able to make their own health care decisions → http://t.co/K75k22iO6r #HobbyLobby pic.twitter.com/BKZQQYteJJ
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 1, 2014
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Trevor LaFauci (The People’s View): They Vote
The person who wishes to impose his or her religious views upon their company votes.
The person who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old votes.
The CEO whose salary is over 300 times that of his or her employees votes.
The person who thinks guns are a God-given right votes.
The person who doesn’t believe in equal pay votes.
The person who thinks Sandy Hook was a false flag votes.
The person who thinks there are legitimate forms of rape votes.
The person who thinks all immigrants are drug-carrying mules or gang members votes.
The person who thinks the rich are “job creators” votes.
The person who thinks gays are an abomination votes.
More here
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ThinkProgress: Meet The People, And The Families They Care For, Whose Lives Just Got Harder Thanks To The Supreme Court
When Dorothy Glenn and Flora Johnson, two home care workers who belong to the SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, first started out in their line of work, both made just $1 an hour. By the end of this year, thanks to the collective bargaining agreement reached by their union, they’ll be making $13 an hour. They also now have health care and paid training opportunities thanks to agreements obtained by the union. Such benefits could now become harder to secure.
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a decision in the case Harris v. Quinn that was not as wide-sweeping as some labor advocates had worried — making it so that any public employees could opt out of paying union dues even if a union is negotiating on their behalf — but still ruled that home care workers in Illinois, who are paid by the state through Medicaid, no longer have to pay union fees. That loss of money could make it harder for the union to continue its organizing work.
More here
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ThinkProgress: What Every Governor Really Believes About Climate Change, In One Handy Map
With all the recent talk at the federal level about the EPA’s proposed carbon regulations for new and existing power plants, it’s easy to forget about the executives that have front row seats to cutting American carbon pollution. And though climate deniers run rampant through the halls of Congress, a new analysis from the CAP Action War Room reveals that half of America’s Republican governors agree with the anti-science caucus of Congress.
Fifteen out of twenty-nine sitting Republican governors deny climate science despite the overwhelming level of scientific consensus, the enormous cost to taxpayers, and the critical place governors occupy in implementing new limits on carbon pollution. None of the country’s Democratic governors have made public statements denying climate change.
More here – and see the scary map
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Orlando Sentinel: In Orlando, Michelle Obama calls counselors key to school success
School counselors have one of “the most underappreciated jobs” in the country but are key to in the White House’s goal to have more students pursue education after high school, first lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday in Orlando.
“You’re the one planting the seeds about college” and creating a climate where “higher education is the expectation, not the exception,” Obama told hundreds of counselors at an annual convention.
But counselors, she said, too often struggle with an “outrageous” caseload — one counselor to 451 students is the average in Florida — and school policies that view them as an extra that can be cut during lean budget years or asked to do other duties, such as serve as proctors during testing.
“School counseling should not be an extra or a luxury,” Obama said to loud applause. “School counseling is a necessity.”
Counselors at the American School Counselor Association’s convention at a Walt Disney World resort cheered the first lady’s remarks, saying she had validated their profession and frustrations.
More here
Text of the First Lady’s remarks here
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Forbes: Leadership Lessons From Admiral Michelle Howard, The Highest Ranking Woman In Naval History
This morning, in a ceremony at the Women In Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Howard became the first woman in the U.S. Navy’s 236-year history to be promoted to four-star admiral and Vice Chief of Naval Operations, the second highest position in the Navy.
While today’s precedings make history, Howard is no stranger to firsts. In 1999 she became the first African American woman to command a Naval ship, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore. Howard was also the first African American woman in any branch of the military to reach three stars. In the past she’s been deployed to Indonesia for tsunami relief efforts, participated in Maritime security operations in the North Arabian Gulf, and served as commander of a Counter-Piracy Taskforce where–three days into the job–she spearheaded the rescue of Captain Phillips from Somali pirates.
More here
History was made today: Michelle Howard just became the @USNavy’s first female four-star admiral. #WomenSucceed
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) July 2, 2014
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Wheels down in Zambia, where Dr. Biden is kicking off a three-country trip to highlight women’s empowerment. pic.twitter.com/fDKC5VDY7u
— Dr. Jill Biden (@DrBiden) July 1, 2014
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On This Day
President Obama tests out the new Federal Government IT Dashboard outside of the Oval Office on July 2, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama gestures as he speaks on innovation and jobs in the Rose Garden of the White House as business leaders listen July 2, 2009
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President Obama heads a soccer ball at Ubungo Power Plant in Dar es Salaam July 2, 2013. The ball called a “soccket ball” has internal electronics that allows it to generate and store electricity that can power small devices
@petesouza: Presidents Obama and Bush greet survivors of 1998 bombing at US Embassy Tanzania
First Lady Michelle Obama and Laura Bush at the African First Ladies Summit: “Investing in Women: Strengthening Africa”
@petesouza: Large crowds again line the motorcade route in Tanzania
@PeteSouza Dancers greet Pres Obama and Pres Kikwete during departure ceremony at airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
President Obama kisses First Lady Michelle Obama as they prepare to board Air Force One
Leaving Tanzania
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MoooOOOooorning! My electricity just came back after two hours: grrrrrr. Probably missing lots of news, but we’ll catch up later.
Happy Wednesday!
The Obama Diary 
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