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Posts Tagged ‘sarah
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Cindi Leive: Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kerry Washington: The Important Cause Bringing Three Powerhouse Women Together
First Lady Michelle Obama and actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Kerry Washington are sitting in the Blue Room at the White House. This trio of female forces, who know one another through their work on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, aren’t here just to catch up on life. They’re here today to spread a crucial message: This Memorial Day, America’s servicewomen, veterans, and military wives—courageous women—need our help. Over a decade ago, during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, our servicemen and -women were constantly in the public eye, in newspapers, music videos, car commercials. Today, most of the more than 2.5 million men and women who deployed are home safe—but they deserve just as much attention as when they were braving IEDs and insurgents.
During this reentry period, advocates point out, many veterans face hardships (from homelessness and unemployment to post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of sexual trauma), and we can’t underestimate the support they need. MO: One thing I want to clarify—that every service member, veteran, wants us to remember—is that the vast majority of people returning from service come back completely healthy…. But when we do come across someone who is struggling…we have to develop a culture of open arms and acceptance so that they feel comfortable saying, “I’m a veteran. And by the way, I need little help.” Think about the amount of training the average veteran has received through the military—physical training, project management training, public relations work. Think of an average tour of duty in a foreign land, the money we put into developing that, and then they’re discharged, and what, we let that investment go? Absolutely not. These are some of the best-trained people in our society.
More here
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First Lady Michelle Obama participates in the unveiling of the Maya Angelou Forever Stamp, at the Warner Theater in Washington. From left are, Eleanor Traylor, English Professor at Howard University; poet Nikki Giovanni; Mrs. Obama; Postmaster General Megan Brennan; Oprah Winfrey, and artist Ross Rossin
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News to share with the @msnbc viewers and community: Martin Bashir has resigned. More information here: http://t.co/71D32ov9s2
— Martin Bashir (@BashirLive) December 4, 2013
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Thank you @BashirLive for your truth-telling in your time at @MSNBC, hope you find somewhere more worthy of your talent.
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) December 4, 2013
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Morning Joke gets pd $99,038 per week 2 bash PBO 2 make Republicans look good. Martin Bashir tells the truth n he no longer has a job @msnbc
— Nicole (@MzDivah67) December 4, 2013
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Hey @ajam, did you hear that @MartinBashir is available? I’m not saying…. I’m just saying.
— April (@ReignOfApril) December 4, 2013
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You don’t have to sign a damn petition to get Bashir back. Just turn the damn channel off! Stop acting like a bunch of @msnbc crack heads!
— FedUp_Mom (@Fedup_Mom) December 4, 2013
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@MarkHalperin called the president “dick” on TV and he’s still around making millions. Fuck you @MSNBC
— BWD (@theonlyadult) December 4, 2013
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Some MSNBC contacts
07
Sep
13
Rise and Shine
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The Week Ahead:
Saturday and Sunday: The President has no public events scheduled
Monday: Attends meetings at the White House
Tuesday: Addresses the nation from the White House
Wednesday: The President, the Vice President, the First Lady, Dr Jill Biden and White House staff will gather on the South Lawn of the White House to observe a moment of silence to mark the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The President will then travel to the Pentagon Memorial to attend the September 11th Observance Ceremony
Thursday: The President will hold a Cabinet Meeting. The Vice President will attend
Friday: Welcomes to the White House the Amir of Kuwait, His Highness Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah
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Steve Benen: Putting the goalposts firmly in place
…. If congressional Republicans ignore President Obama, it’s evidence of Obama failing. If congressional Republicans ignore their own party’s leaders, it’s still evidence of Obama failing.
If the president bypasses Congress to pursue his national security strategy, he’s dictatorial. If he seeks congressional authorization for his national security strategy, he’s weak and undermining the stature of his office.
If lawmakers reject a resolution authorizing force in Syria, Obama will struggle to get anything through Congress for the rest of his term. If lawmakers approve a resolution authorizing force in Syria, Obama will struggle to get anything through Congress for the rest of his term.
If the president uses the military to intervene in Syria, Obama will have undermined the credibility of the United States on the global stage. If the president honors a congressional vote against using the military to intervene in Syria, Obama will have undermined the credibility of the United States on the global stage.
I’m starting to think this game is rigged in a heads-I-win; tails-you-lose sort of way…..
Full post here
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The People’s View: When Democrats Were Humanitarian Hawks (#KosovoDems)
It passed the Senate by a 58-41 vote, and failed in the House in a 213-213 tie. 93% of Democrats in the Senate voted for it, as did 86% of House Democrats – that made for 42 Democratic senators and 180 Democratic House members. It was the Congressional resolution to allow the United States to intervene militarily, unilaterally if needed, to end a humanitarian catastrophe – under a Democratic president. It was the humanitarian catastrophe of death and displacements in Kosovo. President Clinton lead an airstrike despite the failure of the vote in Congress, under the NATO umbrella.
Kosovo’s civil war was a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions, but in the perspective of Syria, it is in danger of looking miniscule….
Yet, Congressional Democrats remain largely skeptical of an intervention in Syria while roughly 90% of Democrats in Congress in 1999 voted to allow Bill Clinton to intervene in Kosovo. I am left wondering why this is….
Full post here
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In America, the white Republican who lied us to war had more backing from Democrats than the black Democrat who tells the truth. #syria
— BWD (@theonlyadult) September 7, 2013
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Smartypants: Rep. Keith Ellison asks us to listen to Syrian Americans
While an awful lot of liberals are jumping in front of TV cameras to announce their collaboration with tea party libertarians to oppose military intervention in Syria, one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (and one of only two members of the House who are Muslim) seems to be struggling a bit more deeply with the issues involved.
PEACE community, consider thoughtful words of Syrian Americans as you think about Congress’ vote next week. http://t.co/yduqX4kIt0
— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) September 5, 2013
You can bet that with that kind of nuance, Rep. Ellison isn’t going to be asked to appear on any of the cable network shows.
But I’d ask you to do what the Congressman has requested: take a moment to read the letter to the anti-war movement from the group known as United for a Free Syria…..
Full post here
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“If we cannot summon the courage to act…our ability to lead in the world is compromised.” —@AmbassadorPower: http://t.co/GP1itDCS3B #Syria
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 6, 2013
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It was hard to imagine Alan Grayson could sink any lower this week – see ‘Alan Grayson Conspires with Far Right Lunatics to Lie and Fundraise off of Syria’ at The People’s View and ‘Rep Alan Grayson Cackles That Syrian Atrocities ‘Simply Not Our Problem’ at Mediaite) – but then there was this:
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Steve Benen: When crass fundraising takes a Grimm turn
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) announced just days ago that he would support President Obama’s call for military intervention in Syria. “We have to keep our word; this is about our credibility,” the New York Republican said last weekend. “We can’t permit a precedent where there is a use of chemical weapons and there is no response.”
Four days later, Grimm changed his mind, and announced yesterday he opposes the policy he’d previously endorsed.
I’ll leave it to others to speculate as to why, exactly, the congressman reversed course so quickly and completely …. The fundraising appeal, sent within a few hours of Grimm’s newly announced position, asks donors, “Will you stand with me in opposing President Obama’s plan with a donation of $25 or more right now?” It adds, “Stand with me today with a donation of $25 or more to strongly oppose military action in Syria.”
Full post here
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Smartypants: President Obama and WMD’s
The whole concept of reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction was seriously discredited when Bush/Cheney used it as an excuse to lie us into an unnecessary war. Its clear by now that some people simply cannot have a rational conversation about the topic as a result.
But since President Obama has been trying to convince the US and the world to live up to their commitments about responding to the use of chemical weapons, I’ve been thinking about how that position is linked to a rather bold promise he made back when he was running for president in 2008….
More here
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Stay tuned for more details, but on Monday, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice will give a speech at @NewAmerica Foundation.
— Eric Schultz (@Schultz44) September 6, 2013
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The PCTC Blog: Pacifists and Liberals ; When Do We Actually Stand Up For Those We Allegedly Care About?
Being a pacifist isn’t easy. Not easy at all.
A lot of self-described pacifists think it is easy. Essentially, the equation for many is, if it maims or kills, you don’t do it. Period. That’s easy, isn’t it?
There’s just one problem. It’s not pacifism.
Like everything else in life, being pro-peace is complicated. It’s a constant calculation, based on the circumstances in each situation. It’s not a blanket belief that no one should ever do anything violent, but a calculation of which actions will bring us closer to peace, and save the most innocent lives? Unfortunately, sometimes, the necessary action may be a violent one. Sometimes, in the grand peace calculation, there is little choice but to act violently. It’s a sad but true fact of life….
Full post here
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Oh boy, these people…..
TPM: Weekly GOP Address Makes No Mention Of Syria
As the country debates what it should engage in another military conflict, the Senate Republican weekly address Saturday made no mention of Syria.
Instead the address, delivered by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), was exclusively dedicated to attacking Obamacare ahead of the Oct. 1 initiation of enrollment in the law’s health insurance exchanges.
More here
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President Obama views the Gulf of Finland during a break before the first plenary session at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg (Photo by Pete Souza)
More Pete Souza photos from the Summit here
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Paul Krugman: It Takes A Government (To Make A Market)
Lots of reporting on the new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of what we know so far about premiums under Obamacare. It definitely looks as if there will be a mild “rate shock” — in the right direction….
What’s going on here? Partly it’s a vindication of the idea that you can make health insurance broadly affordable if you ban discrimination based on preexiting conditions while inducing healthy individuals to enter the risk pool through a combination of penalties and subsidies. But there’s an additional factor, that even supporters of the Affordable Care Act mostly missed: the extent to which, for the first time, the Act is creating a truly functioning market in nongroup insurance.
…. In an alternative universe, conservatives would be celebrating this good … But in this universe, conservatives claim that creating a real market for health insurance, and making sure that everyone can afford it, is the moral equivalent of slavery.
Full post here
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What Is Working: 40 Ways Obamacare is Working
The House of Representatives has voted 40 times to repeal Obamacare. To mark the occasion, here’s a quick rundown of 40 ways that Obamacare is already working for millions of Americans and will impact more beginning in 2014.
1. Say goodbye to lifetime limits: Insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on coverage.
2. Children can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
3. Starting in 2014, adults will no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
Free preventive care, including:
4. Annual check-ups
5. Contraception
6. Vaccinations
7. Gestational diabetes screenings
8. Mammograms….
More here
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ThinkProgress: North Carolina Hospital Will Shut Down In Six Months Because The State Won’t Expand Medicaid
On Wednesday, residents of Belhaven, North Carolina got a taste of how stubborn GOP opposition to the Affordable Care Act can affect them personally when executives at Vidant Health System unanimously voted to shut down the local Vidant Pungo Hospital within six months. Vidant officials said the move was necessary as a consequence of North Carolina’s refusal to participate in Obamacare’s optional Medicaid expansion.
Belhaven is a small town of 1,688 where more than 55 percent of the population is African-American and approximately 28 percent of residents live in poverty….
….. Obamacare reduced reimbursements to these so-called “disproportionate share hospitals” — one of which is Vidant Pungo — since the law originally intended all states to expand Medicaid for every American living up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. If things had unfolded that way, these hospitals wouldn’t need the additional government payments since their patients would finally be able to pay for their own care through Medicaid.
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ThinkProgress: Washington State Is Getting Flooded With Hundreds Of Phone Calls About Signing Up For Obamacare
Obamacare’s state-level insurance marketplaces open for enrollment on October 1, and state officials are trying to get out the word about the new health care options that will be available soon. But many uninsured Americans still aren’t aware that they’ll be able to qualify for assistance to buy new plans under Obamacare, and lots of people in general remain confused about what the health law means for them. Health reform skeptics aren’t convinced that the marketplaces’ roll-out will be smooth enough to successfully reach all of those people.
If Washington State is any indication, however, some of those fears may be overblown. Washington hopes to target about one million uninsured residents with information about signing up for Obamacare. And it’s off to a relatively good start, as state officials there say that hundreds of people have contacted them this week asking for more details about the new Obamacare plans.
More here
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President Obama during a briefing in Sweden (Pete Souza)
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@petesouza: Instagram photo from Air Force One leaving Russia
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MooooOOOOoooorning – and the deepest of sympathies to our Australian TOD friends on Tony Abbott becoming their next PM 😦
11
Jul
13
Rise and Shine
Hair-raising …… a year ago: President Obama plays with Katia Wolfsthal, daughter of departing staffer Jon Wolfsthal, July 11, 2012. (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern):
10:15AM: President Obama and VP Biden meet with Senators McCain and Schumer to discuss immigration reform
12:10PM: The President meets with the 1963 Loyola University of Chicago Ramblers championship basketball team
12:45: Jay Carney briefs the press
3:45PM: President Obama and VP Biden meet with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi
4:45PM: VP Biden administers the oath of office at a ceremonial swearing-in for Anthony Foxx at the Department of Transportation
5:30PM: President Obama attends a DNC event, Washington (Closed press)
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Retweet this if you will get up, stand up for a woman’s right to choose. #standwithTXwomen #TXlege pic.twitter.com/j4FfSWKr8b
— OFA TX (@OFA_TX) July 9, 2013
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USA Today Editorial: GOP poisons ObamaCare, then claims it’s sick: Our view
Making ObamaCare work was always going to be hard, which is exactly what you’d expect for a complex new program that affects one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
…. That explains — but hardly excuses — Republicans’ latest assault on ObamaCare. Having lost in Congress and in court, they’re now using the most cynical of tactics: trying to make the law fail. Never mind the public inconvenience and human misery that will result.
Their assault is under way on several fronts. The most disturbing is a concerted attempt to keep the public ignorant about how to use the health care exchanges where uninsured people will be able to sign up for coverage beginning Oct. 1.
More here
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Media Matters: The Sunday Morning Shows Are Still White, Conservative, And Male
In the first six months of 2013, white men dominated the guest lists on the broadcast network Sunday shows and CNN’s State of the Union. MSNBC was the only network achieving notable diversity in its guests, particularly on Melissa Harris-Perry’s show. Republicans and conservatives are hosted significantly more on the broadcast Sunday shows than Democrats and progressives.
…. During the first six months of this year, white men were no less than 58 percent and as high as 66 percent of guests on This Week, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, Fox News Sunday, and State of the Union. Melissa Harris-Perry stands out as having a much more even distribution between white men and women and African-American men and women than all other shows.
More here
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President Obama talks with Military Aide LTC Owen Ray during his departure ceremony in the Oval Office, July 10 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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NYT (March 2013): Fifty years ago, as the 25th N.C.A.A. men’s final began at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky., basketball fans saw for the first time something they take for granted today. As the two top men’s teams in the country, Loyola of Chicago and Cincinnati, prepared for the opening tip, most of the players on the floor, 7 of 10, were black.
… All-black colleges were not yet welcome in the N.C.A.A. tournament … but the Bearcats, the favorites in the 1963 final, had three black starters … they were hoping to become the first team to win three consecutive national titles.
They faced the Ramblers of Loyola, a Jesuit school that had never been to the tournament. They had four black starters … In the final, Loyola staged one of the most surprising comebacks in tournament history. Trailing by 15 points with less than 12 minutes to go …. they won, 60-58, with a buzzer-beater at the end of overtime.
… During the regular season, the players on both teams had endured prejudice and humiliation: awkward moments in restaurants and hotel lobbies; hostile crowds hurling garbage and abuse; social isolation on their own campuses.
Jerry Harkness, Loyola’s star and captain, felt pressure from two sides, from the characters who sent him hate mail signed “KKK” and from the neighborhoods and churches of black Chicago.
“We were winning, we were four blacks, and boy, the black community was excited about us,” Harkness said. “We go to a dance: ‘Man you guys are great, you can’t lose now. Please don’t lose’.”
More here
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Dana Milbank: Last week, the administration announced it was delaying by a year the implementation of one of Obamacare’s provisions, the requirement that large employers provide health insurance. You’d think the opposition party, which has spent four years denouncing the health-care reforms, would be delighted by the reprieve. But on Wednesday, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to condemn the administration — for incomplete enforcement of the law they hate.
President Obama was called a dictator and a socialist for passing Obamacare. Now he’s a dictator and a socialist for postponing it? “The irony of objecting to the delay of a program you’ve been trying to stop is no doubt lost on this room,” observed Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee.
This unqualified opposition is counterproductive for House Republicans. On health care, as on immigration, their approach amounts to a search-and-destroy mission. They could work with Democrats to remove problematic pieces in the health-care law, and they could compromise with Democrats on legislation that would secure the borders. But instead they are devoted to shutting down both.
More here
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This is MUST WATCH video. In two minutes Sara (@VictorianPrude) exposed Republicans for the cretins they are
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Becca Aaronson: The House voted 96-49 on Wednesday to give final approval to proposed abortion regulations in Texas. House Bill 2, which would ban abortion at 20 weeks and enact some of the strictest regulations in the country on abortion providers and facilities, now heads to the Senate. “If we’re going to ask for more children to come into this world, we should provide for them,” said state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio. She offered an amendment, which lawmakers tabled, that would have extended state benefits to children put into the foster care and adoption system by women who could not access abortion as a result of the legislation. She added, “We know there are going to be lots of cases where the mothers just cannot, even though they may want to, they cannot take care of them.”
During the final vote, a woman screamed from the gallery that she objected to the proceedings. She refused to quiet or leave, and state troopers carried her out of the gallery by her hands and feet.
House Administration Chairman Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said five women were arrested and taken to jail by state police who were stationed in the House gallery. Several of them sat through the opening prayer and pledges of allegiance to the national and state flags. When the abortion bill came to a final vote in the House, they began shouting, “We will not be silenced,” but the vote proceeded, uninterrupted.
More here
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On this day….
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Sara Kliff: In Connecticut, selling Obamacare involves airplanes flying banners across beaches. Oregon may reel in hipsters with branded coffee cups for their lattes. And in neighboring Washington, the effort could get quite intimate: The state is interested in sponsoring portable toilets at concerts. The advertisements, developed with political consultants and communications firms, illustrate the ability of the health-care law’s supporters to pinpoint the precise group they want to sign up for Obamacare — young and healthy Americans who won’t weigh down the system with high medical bills.
Oregon will run a $2.9 million campaign leading up to the October launch of the state’s marketplace, called Cover Oregon. Ads went live Tuesday on television and radio featuring local musicians extolling the benefits of enrolling “every logger and lawyer and stay-at-home dad” in health insurance coverage. The state is finalizing plans for other kinds of outreach, such as putting ads in bus shelters or producing branded coffee cups
More here
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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visit the La General Hospital in Accra, Ghana, July 11, 2009
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Julie Rovner: A trade group for Catholic hospitals says a new Obama administration policy on birth control is just fine. That’s in sharp contrast to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which continues to battle against the policy, which exempts churches, synagogues and mosques, but requires other institutions run by religious organizations to cover birth control under employees’ health insurance. Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, said the administration’s final birth control rule wasn’t what her organization would have preferred for the hospitals and other health facilities it oversees.
SISTER CAROL KEEHAN: But it was a solution that we could make work, because it allows our members not to have to buy, contract for, refer or arrange for contraceptive services.
ROVNER: Under the rule, churches and other houses of worship are exempt. Women who work for Catholic or other religious hospitals, universities and social service agencies will still get the no-cost birth control, but the religious entity won’t have to be involved in providing it. The insurance company or insurance administrator will instead.
More here
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Alec MacGillis: Immigration reform was supposed to be different than health care reform. A few wonks aside, Republicans have never had any real interest in expanding health insurance coverage to those who lack it. But there are plenty of influential figures in the Republican coalition who are motivated to reform immigration laws—whether political tacticians like Karl Rove who can read demographic charts or business owners who want more reliable streams of immigrant labor. But it’s now looking increasingly as if the never-ending Republican war on health care reform could be helping block immigration reform just when it finally had a real chance.
What does this have to do with immigration reform? Well, because of the absolute refusal by congressional Republicans—and many GOP governors and state legislators around the country—to accept the Affordable Care Act as law of the land and reckon with any complications that might arise in its implementation, the Obama administration has been forced to carry off necessary tweaks and adjustments on its own, via regulatory fiat.
Such unilateral tweaks by the administration, in turn, have Republicans decrying what they see as extra-constitutional nigh-dictatorial overreach. And it’s taken no time for declamations against the administration’s regulatory freelancing on Obamacare to turn into general paranoia about what the administration might conspire to do with an immigration law.
More here
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President Obama remarks to an African boy on the similarity of their ears as he greets diners at a breakfast during his visit to the Presidential Castle in Accra, July 11, 2009
Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, July 11, 2009
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Have A Dance Like No One’s Watching Day! 😀
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02
Feb
13
Rise and Shine
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I’ve only read one article so far today – which kinda explains all the pics and videos 😕 – this one by Charles Blow. Book added to must-buy list:
Charles Blow: Most of what you think you know about Rosa Parks may well be wrong.
On the verge of the 100th anniversary of her birth this Monday comes a fascinating new book, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” by Jeanne Theoharis, a Brooklyn College professor. It argues that the romanticized, children’s-book story of a meek seamstress with aching feet who just happened into history in a moment of uncalculated resistance is pure mythology.
As Theoharis points out, “Rosa’s family sought to teach her a controlled anger, a survival strategy that balanced compliance with militancy.”
Parks was mostly raised by her grandparents. Her grandfather, a follower of Marcus Garvey, often sat vigil on the porch with a rifle in case the Klan came. She sometimes sat with him because, as the book says she put it, “I wanted to see him kill a Ku Kluxer.”
When she was a child, a young white man taunted her. In turn, she threatened him with a brick. Her grandmother reprimanded her as “too high-strung,” warning that Rosa would be lynched before the age of 20. Rosa responded, “I would be lynched rather than be run over by them.”
More here
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Kerry Washington at last night’s NAACP awards:
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From yesterday’s Washington Post, the First Lady looking fabulous (thank you Lisa!):
Washington Post: Michelle Obama grooving to the songs of Musiq Soulchild at the Howard Theatre Thursday night. The first lady, with a group including Valerie Jarrett who were said to be celebrating a friend’s birthday, arrived around 8 p.m., stayed through the duration of the concert, and greeted the R&B singer backstage.
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Thank you Alycee
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Four years ago today:
President Barack Obama visits with his daughters Malia and Sasha and kisses his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, in a private study off the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Three years ago today:
President Barack Obama walks to the Oval Office after returning to the White House following a trip to Nashua, N.H., Feb. 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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Two years ago today:
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. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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One year ago today, Pete Souza’s rival:
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. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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This is the kind of photo I usually take, you know – slightly important elements missing, like heads. But I’m guessing the photographer at yesterday’s National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation awards was just impressed with the tie. And hands.
Head included in this one:
In case you missed the ceremony, it was great:
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MoooOOOooOOOoooorning!
29
Jan
13
Rise and Shine
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with law enforcement officials to discuss policies the President put forward last month that would reduce gun violence in communities across America, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Jan. 28 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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Today:
9:20: President Obama departs the White House
2:25: Arrives Las Vegas
2:55: Delivers remarks on immigration at Del Sol High School
5:00: Departs Las Vegas
9:20: Arrives at the White House
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Washington Post: The Obama administration has developed its own proposals for immigration reform that are more liberal than a separate bipartisan effort in the Senate, including a quicker path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, people with knowledge of the proposals said.
President Obama is expected to provide some details of the White House plans during a Tuesday appearance in Las Vegas, where he will call for broad changes to the nation’s immigration laws. The speech will kick off a public push by the administration in support of the broadest overhaul of immigration law in nearly three decades.
More here
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Atlantic Wire: The gay community seemed to gasp in unison on Monday afternoon when the Senate revealed a much anticipated immigration plan that did not, in the end, include same-sex couples. But according to multiple reports Monday night, this is just the beginning: President Obama will include same-sex couples in the proposals of a major policy speech on immigration in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon that will seek to build on “momentum” from Congress for broad reform.
More here
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Steve Benen: After a bipartisan group of eight senators unveiled their proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, most proponents of improving the status quo, including President Obama and his team, were delighted. All eyes, however, quickly turned to House Republicans, who’ve long opposed reform and are in a position to kill it in this Congress.
More here
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Liberal Librarian: So, the news of the day is that a bipartisan group of senators have a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. That’s all to the well and good. This country needs a sensible immigration policy that allows for the legalization of those undocumented immigrants already in the country, and for a rational method for immigrants to come in legally.
Now, don’t be mistaken: this Damascene conversion on the part of a few Republican senators is due more to the stranglehold that the Democratic Party has on immigrant voters, rather than to any true change of heart that maybe it would be a good idea to decriminalize 11 million US residents.
Full post here
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Washington Post: The nation’s housing market is surging again after years of historic declines, and the unique forces powering its return could last well into 2013.
The number of homes for sale is at its lowest level since before the recession, sparking competition among buyers that has led to 10 straight months of price increases. The volume of activity is the highest since 2007.
Builders broke ground in December on the most new housing developments in four years. And interest rates on mortgages are expected to remain near all-time lows through much of the year, galvanizing once-skeptical buyers.
More here
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President Obama hugs Donna Vanzant, the owner of North Point Marina, as he tours damage from Hurricane Sandy in Brigantine, N.J., Oct. 31, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)
Steve Benen: It’s taken far longer than it should have, but federal aid for areas affected by Hurricane Sandy is finally on the way.
…. it’s worth pausing to note the partisan split on Sandy relief – in the Senate, 36 Senate Republicans, including members representing coastal states like Florida, Texas, Alabama, and the Carolinas, voted against the federal aid. Or put another way, 80% of Senate Republicans opposed post-Sandy relief …. 78% of House Republicans voted against the emergency assistance.
….. it is now effectively the standard position of congressional Republicans to reject disaster relief unless the funding is offset by other spending cuts. So long, compassionate conservatism, we hardly knew you.
Full post here
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TPM: The Senate is fast-tracking its reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act to a floor vote expected by next week, two Democratic aides tell TPM.
But House Republican leaders remain silent on how they intend to proceed, which suggests that there has not been a breakthrough since last year, when the bill fell prey to the House GOP’s resistance to expand coverage to gays, illegal immigrants and Native Americans who have suffered domestic abuse.
More here
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Business Week: Last week campaign disclosure reports revealed that Hillary Clinton had finally retired the debt from her 2008 presidential campaign—with a little help from the guy who beat her, Barack Obama. Clinton’s debt once totaled more than $20 million, although it had dwindled to about $250,000 by last year. That’s when a team of top Obama donors decided to surprise Clinton, and thank her for her loyal service, by raising enough money to pay off her bills. As secretary of state, she was forbidden from political fundraising.
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a Republican member of the Cabinet, feigns being a blocking back for President Barack Obama as he arrives backstage to meet with GOP House leaders before speaking to their issues conference at the Renaissance Baltimore Harbor Place Hotel in Baltimore, Md., Jan. 29, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
AP: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican still left in President Barack Obama’s first-term Cabinet, says he plans to leave the Obama administration.
…. LaHood says he will not run for public office in his home state of Illinois, saying he believes “you should go out while they’re applauding.”
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… with Darren Criss
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Morning!
12
Oct
12
Rise and Shine
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President Obama watches the Vice Presidential debate aboard Air Force One with staff, en route home from Florida, Oct. 11 (Pete Souza)
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The full debate:
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Vice President Biden: “You probably detected my frustration with their attitude about the American people. My friend [Paul Ryan] says that 30% of the American people are takers, Romney [says] 47% of the people won’t take responsibility. He’s talking about my mother and father. He’s talking about the places I grew up in, my neighbors in Scranton, he’s talking about the people who built this country.
“All they’re looking for … is an even shot. Whenever you give them the shot, they’ve done it. They’ve done it. Whenever you’ve leveled the playing field, they’ve been able to move. They want a little bit of a peace of mind, and the President and I are not going to rest until that playing field is leveled, they in fact have a clear shot, and they have peace of mind—until they can turn to their kid and say with a degree of confidence, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.’ That’s what this is all about.”
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Charles Pierce: For the second time in as many presidential elections, Joseph Biden got to debate a young, attractive Republican candidate who was demonstrably less qualified to to be president than I am to be chairman of the World Bank…
There is a deeply held Beltway myth of Paul Ryan, Man of Big Ideas, and it dies hard. But, if there is a just god in the universe, on Thursday night, it died a bloody death….
…. the battering that Biden gave Ryan brought something into sharp relief …. for his entire political career up to that point, on critical economic issues, Paul Ryan was an extremist even by the standards of the modern Republican party, which are considerably high indeed.
…. the profound ignorance he displayed on Thursday night on a number of important questions …. was so positively terrifying that it calls into question Romney’s judgment for putting this unqualified greenhorn on the ticket at all. Joe Biden laughed at him? Of course, he did. The only other option was to hand him a participation ribbon and take him to Burger King for lunch.
You know what’s the difference between Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan?
Lipstick.
Full post here
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NYT Editorial: Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate was one of the best and meatiest political conversations in many years …. Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. would not sit still for a parade of misleading and often blatantly untruthful descriptions of the state of the economy and the Republican prescriptions for it…
Mr. Ryan, as always, refused to acknowledge the improvement in the economy ….ignoring the steady reduction in the national jobless rate, which dipped to 7.8 percent last month.
…. Mr. Biden repeatedly pointed out that Mr. Romney had firmly opposed the federal bailout of the auto industry, which turned out to be the single biggest act of job creation in the last four years. Mr. Ryan responded weakly that Mr. Romney was a “car guy” …
…. he showed Mr. Ryan’s hypocrisy on the subject by pointing out that the congressman had asked for stimulus money for his state of Wisconsin, just as other Republicans did even as they vilified the program.
Mr. Ryan’s performance on foreign affairs and military issues was at best disingenuous and at worst bumbling….
Full editorial here
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Dana Milbank: In the hours before Thursday night’s vice presidential debate, word leaked that the Romney-Ryan campaign had instructed moderator Martha Raddatz to address Paul Ryan as “Mister” rather than “Congressman.”
To her credit, Raddatz ignored such instructions and referred to the Republican vice presidential nominee by his more relevant title. Not that it mattered anyway: Vice President Biden was not about to let people forget that Ryan, and by extension Mitt Romney, are inextricably bound to the unpopular House Republican leadership.
On issue after issue — Libya, Iran, taxes, debt, Medicare, Social Security — Biden kept turning the discussion toward actions Ryan and his colleagues took in Congress, at one point mocking Ryan for suggesting he could work across the aisle to forge a tax deal. “Seven percent rating? Come on,” Biden needled.
…. Raddatz turned to the challenger for a response. “Congressman Ryan?”
After Biden’s barrage, the honorific sounded like an epithet.
Full article here
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24
Apr
12
rise and shine
10:05: President Obama honors 2012 National Teacher of the Year and finalists at the W.H.
10:35: Departs the W.H. for Andrews Joint Air Force Base.
10:50: Departs Andrews Air Force Base for Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
11:50: Arrives in North Carolina.
1:00: Michelle Obama delivers the keynote address at Girls Inc. of Omaha’s 12th annual lunch.
1:15: PBO delivers remarks on student loans at the University of North Carolina.
2:20: PBO is interviewed for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”
2:45: Michelle Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event in Omaha covered by a print pooler.
3:40: PBO departs North Carolina for Colorado.
6:00: Michelle Obama meets with Obama campaign volunteers from the Des Moines area.
7:10: PBO arrives in Colorado.
8:45: Delivers remarks at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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If anyone has a link to the full interview could you leave it in the comments?
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Charles Pierce: Has The New York Times taken to hiring its “Public Editors” from the people waiting on hold for Mark Levin?
Readers deserve to know: Who is the real Barack Obama?
No kidding, that appeared in an actual column in the actual New York Times.
…. Barack Obama has been on the national scene for eight years. He was a candidate for the better part of two years and has been the president of the United States for the better part of three. We know about things his preacher said. We know about his uncle’s unfortunate driving history and his aunt’s time on the dole. A good portion of the Republican base — the portion that Mr. Brisbane here is begging not to write him anything hurtful anymore — believes that it knows the president is a Kenyan-born Muslim Indonesian socialist who is just waiting until his second term to round them all up, take away their guns, and give them all retroactive late-term abortions, and only Brisbanish “vetting” can stand in the way of all that.
We are so very screwed.
More here
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ThinkProgress: Former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, a Republican now hoping to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), said recently that she was unfamiliar with the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the landmark anti-domestic violence legislation whose re-authorization is now stalled in the Senate.
Senate Republicans are objecting to re-upping the 1994 law, which has already been extended several times, because of amendments that would extend protections for Native American women, gay victims, and others.
A video released today by the Missouri Democratic Party shows a man asking Steelman about VAWA at a campaign event. Steelman replies, “I’m not sure what that is because I’m not serving right now.” He asks again, “you haven’t really heard about it?” And she confirms, “no, not really.”
Caitlin Legacki, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Democratic Party, told Inside Missouri Politics that the exchange “underscores how ill-equipped she is to serve in public office.”
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Morning everyone 😉
The Obama Diary 
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