#Emanuel9

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5 years ago on this date, these 9 people were killed by a white supremacist at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. #Emanuel9 pic.twitter.com/Jl9AEvfIwZ

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 17, 2020

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Blessings

Pete Souza: April 2010. A prayer in the Blue Room before the formal annual Prayer Breakfast

The President And First Lady’s Day

First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama hugging Kitty Casey

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. The National Prayer Breakfast is in it’s 63rd year

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President Barack Obama strikes the Heisman pose with Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry

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President Barack Obama meets with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in the Oval Office. President Obama and President Santos are expected to make a bid for increased aid for Colombia and talk about “Plan Colombia,” a U.S. aid initiative started in 2000 to help combat Colombian drug cartels

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President Barack Obama holds a Golden State Warriors basketball jersey presented to him during an event with the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors

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President Barack Obama jokes while demonstrating “clowning” when talking about Stephen Curry

President Obama Speaks at the 2014 Easter Prayer Breakfast

The National Prayer Breakfast

Text of remarks here

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Rise and Shine

A year ago: Lauren Fleming, the 2011 March of Dimes National Ambassador, looks up as her brother Corbin touches President Barack Obama’s face during a visit to the Oval Office, Feb. 7, 2012. Lauren is also accompanied by her parents Densel and Nikki Fleming, and her sister Erin (Photo by Pete Souza)

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This morning:

8:05 AM: President Obama, VP Biden and Michelle Obama attend the National Prayer Breakfast; President Obama delivers remarks

White House live * C-Span * CBS * CNN

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First Lady introduced:

Gabby Douglas:

See it all at C-Span

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Later:

10:0: Jay Carney briefs the press

10:0: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey testify on what happened in Benghazi before the Senate Armed Services Committee

11:15: President Obama departs the White House en route Leesburg, Va.

11:40: Arrives in Leesburg, Va.

12:30: President Obama delivers remarks at the House Democratic Issues Conference

1:45: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force will roll out their proposed gun control initiatives in Leesburg

1:55: President Obama departs Leesburg

2:20: Arrives at the White House

2:30: John Brennan testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on his nomination to become the next CIA director

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TPM: Despite the increasingly dim prospects for an assault weapons ban to earn congressional approval, a poll released Thursday showed that a wide majority of American voters is in favor of such a prohibition.

The latest poll from Quinnipiac University found that 56 percent of registered voters nationwide support a ban on the sale of assault weapons, compared with just 39 percent who are opposed.

More here

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@BarackObama

Where’s your family from?

By Jose Magana

I was brought to this country from Mexico when I was 2 years old.

I am an undocumented immigrant — and I am living proof that our immigration system is broken.

….. Just telling our stories would change people’s minds.

This is exactly how we’re going to persuade people across the country to get behind President Obama’s plan for comprehensive immigration reform.

…. Through this grassroots movement, we can raise our voices, tell our stories, and make sure Congress and all Americans better understand the ties that bind us. Our stories can drive our organizing. Share your own story today, and help Organizing for Action get the word out on why this matters …

See here

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Mooooooorning everyone, this is a decidedly short Rise and Shine, but I wanted to give a Heads Up for the Prayer Breakfast – that’s my excuse any way. More in a while.

This and That

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet visitors during an inaugural open house in the Blue Room of the White House, Jan. 22, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Tonight:

9:0 ET: The President, Vice President, First Lady and Dr Biden attend the Staff Inaugural Ball

Not sure if there is coverage of this, try the usual links in the sidebar on the right

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President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden and Vice President Biden applaud the choir as they attend a prayer service at Washington National Cathedral on January 22

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President Barack Obama talks with House Speaker John Boehner and his wife Debbie Boehner at the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies tea in the Blue Room of the White House, Jan. 21, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave to people as they ride in the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Hiya everyone, sorry I wasn’t able to be around much today, which was huuuuugely frustrating because there are a gazillion gorgeous photos and videos I wanted to share. Tomorrow’s a bit nuts too with work, I won’t be able to catch up until later in the day, but we’ll get there in the end. 😕 Come the weekend, I’ll do a proper review of the Inauguration, with the best stuff I can find.

As usual, I owe a bunch of you email replies, will get there in the end. I hope!

Heads Up: The Obamas and Bidens attend National Prayer Service

10:45 am: President Obama, VP Biden, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden attend the National Prayer Service

C-Span * CNN * CBS

Live streaming has started at CBS and CNN, and is due to start at 10:0 at C-Span – although, according to the schedule, the service is not due to start until 10:45.

‘i heard an amen’

Text of remarks here

President Obama speaks at a prayer breakfast in the East Room of the White House, April 4

Full remarks:

rise and shine

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National Journal: President Obama’s ad-makers may have to pay royalties to Clint Eastwood after a remarkable two-minute Chrysler commercial that aired on the biggest of all stages – the Super Bowl – and gave a pretty good preview of what the president’s reelection commercials might look like. At the very least, the ad and Eastwood’s powerful narration make it much, much more difficult for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney to keep pushing his line that Washington should have let the automakers go into bankruptcy.

And don’t think that Team Obama wasn’t watching the Super Bowl along with millions of other Americans and immediately grasped the boost they could get from the commercial. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer quickly tweeted “Saving the America auto industry: something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on.” Senior strategist David Axelrod tweeted “Powerful spot. Did Clint shoot that, or just narrate it?”  Former White House aide Bill Burton tweeted, “Clinton Eastwood #winning.”

More here

Thanks Allyson

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Washington Post

ABC: ….. Fifty percent of Americans in this new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Obama’s job performance, the most since spring. Fifty percent say he deserves re-election, better than Bill Clinton at the start of his re-election year and as good as George W. Bush a month before he won a second term. And Obama now leads Romney among registered voters by a slight 51-45 percent, the first time either has cracked 50 percent in a series of matchups since spring.

Two chief factors are at play. One is the economy’s gradual but unmistakable improvement, marked by the newly reported January unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, the lowest since a month after Obama took office. The president’s approval rating on handling the economy, while just 44 percent, is its best in 13 months.

More here

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This week:

Monday: PBO will attend meetings at the White House.

Tuesday: PBO will host the second White House Science Fair celebrating the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. The President will also announce key steps that the Administration and its partners are taking to help more students excel in math and science, and earn degrees in these subjects. At the fair, the President will view exhibits of student work, ranging from breakthrough research to new inventions, followed by remarks to an audience of students, science educators and business leaders on the importance of STEM education to the country’s economic future.

Wednesday: PBO will attend meetings at the White House.

Thursday: PBO will host Prime Minister Mario Monti of Italy at the White House.

Friday: PBO will attend meetings at the White House.

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Michael Tomasky (Daily Beast): It was somewhere between hilarious and pathetic to watch Republicans respond to the positive jobs report last Friday. Some friends and I were counting the minutes until some Republican started casting aspersions on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which compiles and releases the data. Sure enough, by early Friday afternoon, Tea Party Congressman Allen West was saying (on the basis of no evidence of course) that “Americans need truth, not these number games.” West’s comment suggests a desperation that will spread if future reports are as good as last week’s, which raises the question of what the Republicans will do next to try to wreck the economy.

…. There are decent and honorable individual Republicans. Probably many of them. I even know some. But as a collective entity – as a party and a movement that includes the media wing and the base that boos a gay soldier at a debate and cheers executions – they are toxic destroyers, their minds infected by the idea that any cooperation with the president for the sake of the country is the moral equivalent of Munich (yes, with all that analogy implies). They will do anything. Nothing could be more just than to see a surprisingly low unemployment rate come November, with Republicans still insisting that black is white and that governance equals capitulation, and the public rewarding them accordingly.

More here

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USA Today: With U.S. forces still fighting in Afghanistan, the Obama administration has chosen to mark the end of the Iraq War with something more modest than a ticker-tape parade – a state-dinner-like event at the White House later this month feting a select group of combat veterans and their spouses or guests.

The core theme is the common fighting man or woman, said Douglas Wilson, Pentagon public affairs chief. The intent is for those invited – with guests, numbering more than 200 – to represent the 1.5 million who fought in a nine-year-war that left nearly 4,500 dead and 32,000 wounded, he said.

“The dining room that night will look like the America that served in Iraq,” Wilson said. “State dinners honor heads of state and I think the feeling was that this type of dinner is an appropriate way to honor men and women who … merit the same degree of respect as a head of state,” he said. The black-tie White House event to be called “A Nation’s Gratitude” may be unprecedented, Wilson said.

More here

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Morning everyone 😉