President Obama Takes a Walk - Surprises the Heck Out of People

President Obama took a Springtime Stroll on the Washington Mall and surprised the heck out of tourists who kept asking him if he was real, and not made of wax, LOL. And now the video has gone viral with almost a million views on YouTube.

"The Bear is Loose!"

No KXL Pipeline ~ Native Americans and First Nations March on Washington

Some amazing Native Americans and First Nations from Canada marching on the Washington DC Mall against the Keystone XL Pipeline. My heart is with them, and I hope President Obama is watching (he's traveling in Korea today). According to Rolling Stone, the President has decided to reject the pipeline and is merely waiting for a good time to announce it. I hope and pray that is true. If it is, I'm actually glad he didn't undercut this great show of solidarity by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance and every Native and Conservation Group. There will be other fights and this just brings everyone closer together. There are battles to come because Big Oil never sleeps.

#rejectandprotect https://t.co/WV17zE92fi
— Andrew Nazdin (@andrewnazdin) April 26, 2014

Rolling Stone

. . . the president is likely to announce his decision on the northern leg of the Keystone XL, the hugely controversial 1,179-mile-long pipeline that would bring tar-sands oil down from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries. Although no final decision has been made, two high-level sources in the Obama administration told me recently that the president has all but decided to deny the permit for the pipeline – a dramatic move that would light up Democratic voters and donors while further provoking the wrath of Big Oil. Finally, Obama is positioning the U.S. to play a key role in negotiations on a new global-climate treaty that will begin next year, establishing American leadership on climate issues and giving him one last chance to lead the world to a cooler future before he leaves the Oval Office.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Friday April 18th, after the print version of this story had closed, the State Department announced that the decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline would be delayed due to legal challenges to the pipeline's route, effectively putting off resolution of this controversial issue until after the election. The text has been updated to reflect these latest developments.

A beautiful song is leading our march #nokxl #rejectandprotect https://t.co/gw9bsYRAh3
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) April 26, 2014

"Hey, Obama, we don't want that pipeline drama!" #RejectAndProtect #NoKXL pic.twitter.com/Vu5kkxuoUR
— Friends of the Earth (@foe_us) April 26, 2014

Heroes ~ Native Americans and First Nations in Canada fighting against #KeystoneXL Pipeline #edshow pic.twitter.com/921d5e3C48
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) April 23, 2014

#RejectAndProtect is writing new history this week to say #noKXL -- read all about it: http://t.co/OF5Esr916d pic.twitter.com/F2f73cVAC8
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) April 25, 2014

There's alot of people here #nokxl #rejectandprotect #xldissent pic.twitter.com/UsXD3aobMS
— David Goodner (@davidgoodner) April 26, 2014

"Make the decision for future generations" #NoXL #KeystoneXL #StopXL #FirstNations #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/sBtgo7UlzY
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) April 26, 2014

Stop #KeystoneXL : Reject & Protect: Opening Ceremony (Video) http://t.co/afWjAT3uA5 #tcot #p2 #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/fANnJYGjkR
— Blue DuPage (@BlueDuPage) April 26, 2014

Neil Young, pipeline fighter, is here at #RejectAndProtect. #NoKXL pic.twitter.com/p91XVRDXM4
— 350 dot org (@350) April 26, 2014

Neil Young urging Obama to make world history by saying #NoKXL. #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/8yPdIujaYi
— Adam Greenberg (@Pragmactivist99) April 26, 2014

Neil Young and a woman protest the southern-leg of KXL in Texas #RejectAndProtect pic.twitter.com/ZdfO8tuqmY
— Jamie Henn (@Agent350) April 26, 2014

One Amazing Protestor Spins a Yarn

I found these amazing pictures of a super-knitting activist sitting in front of the White House via reporter Jennifer Bendery of Huffington Post. Knitted into her hat are the words "Stop XL" - referring to the Tar Sands Pipeline, no doubt, and on her afghan it says "Occupy Grandparents, Pay It Forward." Her umbrella is a pie chart! Amazing!

This woman in front of the WH wins the day: she KNITTED a pie chart of the US budget onto an umbrella. twitter.com/jbendery/statu…
— jennifer bendery (@jbendery) March 11, 2013

The amazing knitting protestor outside the WH has also knit herself an "Occupy Grandparents" blanket. twitter.com/jbendery/statu…
— jennifer bendery (@jbendery) March 11, 2013

An Unexpected Moment ~ Obama Pauses to Reflect on the Crowd

From Talking Points Memo

Departing the West Front of the U.S. Capitol after delivering his second inaugural address on Monday, President Obama wanted to take one last glance of the hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered to celebrate his second term. After all, it would be his last.
"I want to take a look one more time," Obama said, lingering for a few short moments to savor the view as the crowd shuffled past him. "I'll never see this again."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Begins his Second Term in Office

Inauguration Schedule

Source: NBC News via Instagram

It's a picture-perfect winter's day in Washington D.C. for the start of Obama's second term! I'm thrilled that the weather reflects the beauty of the reelection of a great President, the celebration of Martin Luther King's Legacy, and the fact that the people got the man they truly wanted in the White House. Politics doesn't get any better than this. A great day for our country.


Via Huffington Post

9.a.m.

Former presidents, House of Representatives members, senators, governors and Cabinet designees begin to arrive at the U.S. Capitol for the public, ceremonial inauguration of President Obama and Vice President Biden.

9:30 a.m.

Fifth-grade chorus from Public School 22 in Staten Island, New York performs

10 a.m.

U.S. Marine Band performs

11:14 a.m.

First lady Michelle Obama takes her seat

11:18 a.m.

Vice President Joe Biden takes his seat

11:20 a.m.

President Barack Obama takes his seat

11:35 a.m.

Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil-rights leader Medgar Evers, gives the invocation

11:38 a.m.

The Brooklyn (New York) Tabernacle Choir sings "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"

11:46 a.m.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor administers the vice presidential oath of office to Vice President Biden

11:50 a.m.

Singer James Taylor performs "America the Beautiful"

11:55 a.m.

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts administers the presidential oath of office to President Obama
11:56 a.m.

Trumpets perform "Ruffles and Flourishes" and the U.S. Marine Band performs "Hail to the Chief," followed by a 21-gun salute

12 p.m.

Obama delivers the inaugural address

12:21 p.m.

Singer Kelly Clarkson performs "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)"

12:26 p.m.

Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco reads a poem

12:30 p.m.

Benediction is delivered by the Rev. Luis Leon

12:34 p.m.

Singer Beyonce sings the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner"

12:39 p.m.

President Obama signs official documents. The Obamas then attend the inauguration luncheon at the Capitol with the Bidens

2:32 p.m.

Review of the troops

2:36 p.m.

The Obamas and Bidens begin the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House
6 p.m.

Commander-in-chief's inaugural ball at the Washington Convention Center with military personnel and their spouses. The Obamas and Bidens are scheduled to attend.

6:30 p.m.

Official Inaugural Ball, at the Washington Convention Center. The Obamas and Bidens are scheduled to attend.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22

10:30

National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral attended by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

Inauguration Fever

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will both be sworn in during official but private ceremonies today, Sunday January 20, 2013. Tomorrow, Monday January 21 will be the public Inauguration with parades, speeches, music, poetry, and gala events such as parties into the night.

We also have the Monday holiday to honor Reverend Martin Luther King, which makes it nice for everyone because the whole family can watch the Inauguration at home together. At least that's what we'll be doing at my house.

Counting Down to the Inauguration

Here are some tidbits gleaned from the interwebs about President Obama's Second Inauguration on January 20th and 21st. I can't wait to watch all the pomp and circumstance! Rarely do we have an election that is so historical and full of meaning.

Schedule of Events

Press Releases

Sign up for Email Alerts Here

Long List of Inaugural Parade Participants

Official Inaugural Store

Rehearsals:





If you are attending, please note:

If you plan on attending any of the public events, please be prepared to be outside for a long period of time and dress warmly. A limited amount of food and beverage vendors may be available, but attendees are encouraged to bring snacks and beverages in order to stay healthy and hydrated.
The following items are prohibited and will not be allowed through any security checkpoints: aerosols, animals (guide dogs will be allowed), backpacks, bags larger than 6” x 4” x 8”, balloons, bicycles, coolers, glass or thermal containers, horns, laser pointers, mace/pepper spray, packages, structures, sign supports, weapons, and any additional items deemed a safety hazard by security.
During the inauguration, much of the National Mall and surrounding areas will be closed to vehicle traffic. You can get the latest on D.C. public transportation by visiting the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s website at www.wmata.com or by following @wmata on Twitter.

To President Obama and all the Smarmy Wonks in D.C.: No Grand Deal, Period

Some disturbing ideas are trickling out of Washington about Obama making a deal with Boehner to only tax the rich at 37%, while raising the retirement age to 67, with cuts to so-called "entitlements" still on the table. In other words, Obama and Pelosi are close to caving in negotiations instead of simply letting us go over the cliff in January.

I can't even express how made of fail this is. Please: Just. Don't. Do. It.

Ezra Klein writes on the Washington Post writes as if this is a done deal:

Talk to smart folks in Washington, and here’s what they think will happen: The final tax deal will raise rates a bit, giving Democrats a win, but not all the way back to 39.6 percent, giving Republicans a win. That won’t raise enough revenue on its own, so it will be combined with some policy to cap tax deductions, perhaps at $25,000 or $50,000, with a substantial phase-in and an exemption for charitable contributions.

The harder question is what Republicans will get on the spending side of the deal. But even that’s not such a mystery. There will be a variety of nips and tucks to Medicare, including more cost-sharing and decreases in provider payments, and the headline Democratic concession is likely to be that the Medicare eligibility age rises from 65 to 67.

That’s not a policy I like much, but New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait accurately conveys the White House thinking here: They see it as having “weirdly disproportionate symbolic power,” as it’s not a huge (or smart) cut to Medicare benefits, and most of the pain will be blunted by the Affordable Care Act.

Ezra Klein surely considers himself one of the "smart people" in Washington, and when in doubt, Rachel Maddow swoons in to tell him just how cute and nerdy he is. But the rest of us out in the real world don't have such a glowing opinion.

There's smart, then there's smart. I know Klein says he doesn't like the deal as he lays it out, but then he turns around and agrees with this hideous article by his fellow wonk Jonathan Chait which again takes the nerdy approach that all of this would somehow be "good" for the elderly and the Dems. Honestly?

Jonathan Chait in NYMag: Go Ahead, Raise the Medicare Retirement Age

Many of my liberal wonk friends have been making the case against raising the Medicare retirement age — see Sarah Kliff, Matthew Yglesias, and Jonathan Cohn. Their basic case is that raising the Medicare retirement age is a really stupid way to save money because it just forces people to stop buying health care through Medicare, which is relatively cheap, and start buying it through private insurance, which costs way more.

They’re all totally right about this. Still, when the question comes to what concessions the Democrats are going to have to accept, rather than what policy makes the most sense, raising the Medicare age seems like a sensible bone to throw the right.

. . . raising the Medicare retirement age would help strengthen the fight to preserve the Affordable Care Act.
. . . a side effect of raising the Medicare retirement age would be that a large cohort of 65- and 66-year-olds would suddenly find themselves needing the Affordable Care Act to buy their health insurance. Which is to say, Republicans attacking the Affordable Care Act would no longer be attacking the usual band of very poor or desperate people they can afford to ignore but a significant chunk of middle-class voters who have grown accustomed to the assumption that they will be able to afford health care.

Huh? Is Jonathan Chait serious? Turning Medicare into Obamacare for two years would be better somehow and would "prove" something to the Right, and then all will be well? Dream on, brother.

it strikes me as completely delusional, and almost evil, to imply that seniors should throw themselves on the sword so Obama can strike a Grand Bargain with Boehner, who after all belongs to a party who thinks the elderly (except their own mothers) are a bunch of takers and moochers. And Chait really expects this plan to win over Republicans? I just don't get the logic of any of this.

Save us from the "smart people," or as Paul Krugman calls them, the "Very Serious People."

Last night, Chait was getting plenty of flack for what he wrote:

FireDogLake: Jon Chait's Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age

David Dayen makes me wonder why someone as smart as Jon Chait would write such an idiotic column bit.ly/SLmIcm

— Dan Froomkin (@froomkin) December 7, 2012

I lack the words to describe how democratically perverse a deal that raises the Medicare eligibility age would be.

— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) December 7, 2012

Ezra Klein using Maddow guest host platform to blatantly shill for Chait "surrender on Medicare age" plan. Unbelievable. Wow, wow, wow.

— Ryan (@RTMcNeely) December 8, 2012

In my opinion, if this is a trial balloon, it's already lost altitude, crashed and deflated into an impotent pile, like Mitt Romney's Limp Blimp in Florida just before the election.

How many times do we have to reject an idea before Washington gets it?

Paul Krugman writes there is going to be a day of reckoning and hell to pay if Obama makes this deal.

Ezra Klein says that the shape of a fiscal cliff deal is clear: only a 37 percent rate on top incomes, and a rise in the Medicare eligibility age.
I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that this is just a case of creeping Broderism, that it’s a VSP fantasy about how we’re going to resolve this in a bipartisan way. Because if Obama really does make this deal, there will be hell to pay.
. . . this looks crazy to me; it looks like a deal that makes no sense either substantively or in terms of the actual bargaining strength of the parties. And if it does happen, the disillusionment on the Democratic side would be huge. All that effort to reelect Obama, and the first thing he does is give away two years of Medicare? How’s that going to play in future attempts to get out the vote?
If anyone in the White House is seriously thinking along these lines, please stop it right now.

Indeed, Mr. Krugman. This way lies insanity for the Dems. We would rather go off the flippin' cliff any day than capitulate to Boehner and the GOP.

I also saw a rather unbelievable twitter conversation in which someone wrote that Medicaid was more important than Medicare because one affects "poor children" while the other affects the "rich older people." What does that even mean? That the elderly have no value? Let's recall once again that in the population known as the 99% out here, or the 47% or whatever, most of us AREN'T Rich! Therefore, it is a myth that the elderly are rich people living on the backs of the young.

There are millions of lower middle class seniors dragging themselves to crap jobs for years, standing on legs with varicose veins, putting off procedures due to bad healthcare programs, putting off dental work, sacrificing everything BECAUSE they care so much for young people - their children and grandchildren. They have to keep going for them, not for some cushy retirement. With the state of 401K's these days, real retirement isn't even an option if you aren't Mitt Romney.

AARP know this - that's the same group that boo'd Paul Ryan off the stage just a few months ago. Do you folks in Washington think we are going to stay quiet now? God help you if you believe that.

To hear this damned message about a Machiavellian deal being blurped out by a bunch of smarmy wonks is an insult to all Democratic voters. It's even an insult to all Republican seniors because they are just as poor as anyone else! Red states are poor states, so this is a stupid deal for Boehner as well.

In fact, I keep trying to calm myself down with the idea that this trial balloon is floating in order to turn seniors against Boehner, but I'm not sure. We've seen Obama try to make friends with Boehner before,to win over the Republicans in an almost cringeworthy way, like casting pearls before swine. Jon Stewart told him "they will never be your friends, so stop trying so hard." And yet, President Obama is idealistic enough to think he can still do it.

But at what cost, Mr. President? How many times are you going to alienate the base and give the Republicans another victory they can chortle about in their all-white all-men meetings to which you will never be invited? And meanwhile, the base is up in arms over another bad deal in which we get the shaft and learn to like it.

No more. No more. No more. NO MORE.

This thing is no better than the Ryan plan to throw the working poor under the bus to protect the tax base of the young.

You know - it's like the Ayn Rand thing - Atlas Shrugged - Atlas didn't care - Atlas went home and had a martini and forgot all about the old lady in the checkout line and the man working the jackhammer and the nurse at the hospital and the guy washing dishes in the restaurant. Obama loves to tell these All-American stories on the campaign trail, so why not remember them while dealing with Boehner?

Voters rejected Ryan and his Randian ideas on November 6. If Washington has forgotten that, the voters are going to remind them soon big time, to the point that you'll never forget it again! I promise you. No more. No more.

Washington Insiders Say Obama Will Win

And this article has the best graphics of the year!!! So enjoy!


New York Magazine

Over the past two weeks, we surveyed 74 Beltway insiders—37 Democrats, 37 Republicans—on the election, the state of politics, and what comes next. We wanted honesty, so we offered to keep their answers anonymous (in some cases, they allowed us to quote them).
. . . Participants include: Jack Abramoff, Bob Bennett, Matt Bennett, James Carter IV, Reid Cherlin, Dan Conston, Jon Cowan, Tom Daschle, Fred Davis, Brad Dayspring, Tad Devine, Byron Dorgan, Derek Dorn, Eric Fehrnstrom, Adam Frankel, Tony Fratto, Juleanna Glover, Paul Goodwin, Trey Grayson, Anthony Green, Bruce Haynes, Jim Jordan, Ted Kaufman, Jim Kessler, Chris LaCivita, Rick Lazio, Chris Lehane, Stu Loeser, Matt Mackowiak, Fred Malek, Jim Margolis, Joe Miller, Julian Mulvey, Billy Piper, Ari Rabin-Havt, Scott W. Reed, Jon Reinish, Ed Rendell, Andrew Roth, Mark Salter, Bob Shrum, Erik Smith, Roger Stone, Scott Talbot, Neera Tanden, Joe Trippi, Doug Thornell, John Weaver, Brian Wolff.

Snark in Pictures

Last Flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery

Today marked the last flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery before landing at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. Afterward it was taken to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian. Hail and Farewell, Space Shuttle Program!!! *is sad*

From Washington Post

The space shuttle Discovery soared over the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol in a high-flying salute to the nation’s capital Tuesday. The world’s most traveled spaceship, hitching a ride on top a Boeing 747 jet, took a couple of leisurely spins at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet around Washington after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
housands packed the National Mall to watch the pair swoop by.
“Look at that — that thing is mammoth,” said Terri Jacobsen of Bethesda, Md. She brought her 12-year-old home-schooled son to the mall to watch the flyover.
The shuttle-jet combo was set to land at Dulles International Airport. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian’s annex in northern Virginia.