Got a Fever for MORE Lincoln?

If you've seen the Lincoln movie and crave more Lincoln, you can read the book on which the movie is based Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin gives behind-the-scenes details about the White House of President Abraham Lincoln.





Or you can hang out with all the inspired Lincoln fans on Tumblr



Did you know you can follow Lincoln on Twitter?

Spielberg's Lincoln movie just might be the pinnacle of his career.A masterpiece.
— Abraham Lincoln (@Mr_Lincoln) November 20, 2012

I've read several reviews of @lincolnmovie and have yet to see one in which the reviewer wasn't enthralled.Will be nominated Best Picture.
— Abraham Lincoln (@Mr_Lincoln) November 20, 2012

And he has daily insight into our political system today:

Lincoln firmly believed in education and taught himself geometry.How did his party become full of people who think Earth is 6,000 yrs old?
— Abraham Lincoln (@Mr_Lincoln) November 20, 2012

Laughed at an editorial in my local paper, which claimed that Obama "barely" won re-election. Hmm...electoral college 332-206. Decisive.

— Abraham Lincoln (@Mr_Lincoln) November 20, 2012

The man behind the twitter account is Geoff Elliott who runs a blog he describes as "All Lincoln, All the Time."
The Abraham Lincoln Blog


Finally, Director Stephen Spielberg gave the keynote address at the 149th Dedication Day in honor of Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Great speech from the man who says he now has "Daniel Day-Lewis on speed-dial, LOL."

President Obama in Burma ~ UPDATE: Political Prisoners Freed

Recap of entire trip from Alex Wagoner on MSNBC:



UPDATE: Good news - the government of Burma (Myanmar) is releasing dozens of unfairly accused political prisoners during President Obama's visit.

Reuters

Myanmar's government began releasing dozens of political prisoners on Monday as Barack Obama arrived for the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to the former dictatorship.

Sixty-six prisoners were scheduled to be freed, two-thirds of them dissidents, according to prison officials and activists.

They included prominent figures such as Myint Aye, a senior Prison Department official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A third of those released were former military intelligence personnel who fell afoul of the junta, according to the 88 Generation Students political group.

Myint Aye is arguably the most prominent dissident left in Myanmar's gulag. He was one of dozens of activists arrested on what Amnesty International says were trumped-up charges and convicted in secret courts on flimsy evidence or confessions extracted under torture.

Welcome to Burma, Mr President #History twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/…
— The Obama Diary (@TheObamaDiary) November 19, 2012

The welcome sign for Myanmar (Burma) after you turn off the road from the airport. twitter.com/chucktodd/stat…
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) November 19, 2012

Buddhist monks hold the Myanmar and US flags as they welcome President Barack Obama at Yangon International Airport twitter.com/TheObamaDiary/…
— The Obama Diary (@TheObamaDiary) November 19, 2012

Pres. Obama rings a bell at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma. One of the coolest pictures ever. twitter.com/utaustinlibera…

— Nerdy Wonka (@utaustinliberal) November 22, 2012

Reuters

His plane landed in the former capital Yangon, where he will meet President Thein Sein, a former junta member who has spearheaded reforms since taking office in March 2011, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the struggle against military rule and, like Obama, is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is now a lawmaker.

. . . Speaking in Thailand on the eve of his landmark visit to the former pariah state, Obama denied he was going there to offer his "endorsement" or that his trip was premature.

Instead, he insisted his intention was to acknowledge that Myanmar, also known as Burma, had opened the door to democratic change but there was still much more to do.

"I don't think anybody is under the illusion that Burma's arrived, that they're where they need to be," Obama told a news conference as he began a three-country Asian tour, his first trip abroad since winning a second term.

"On the other hand, if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy, my suspicion is we'd be waiting an awful long time," he said.

Gov. Chris Christie on SNL

LOL - Chris Christie could easily do comedy if politics gets old.

Israel Hammers Gaza

It seems to me that Israel Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's only skill is to make war instead of peace. And unfortunately the people in Gaza are sitting ducks, and when they fight back he blames them and punishes them even more. Now the violence is spreading into Syria and Egypt, which is dangerous. Interestingly, Reuters is reporting a massive hacking attack directed at the Israeli Government.

NBC News Story

Updated at 5:14 p.m. ET: TEL AVIV, Israel - Israel was prepared to substantially broaden its operation in the Gaza strip, the country's prime minister said on Sunday as its military planes continued to bomb targets in Gaza City.

"The Israel Defense Forces have attacked more than 1,000 terror targets in the Gaza Strip," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting. "We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations and the Israel Defense Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation."

. . . Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said he fully supported Israel's right to defend itself but cautioned against a ground offensive.

"If this can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that is preferable," Obama said. "That's not just preferable for the people of Gaza, it's also preferable for Israelis because if Israeli troops are in Gaza they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

Reuters

More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name, but it was up and running after 10 minutes of downtime.

Typically, there are a few hundred hacking attempts a day on Israeli sites, the ministry said. Attempts on defence-related sites have been the highest, while 10 million attempts have been made on the site of Israel's president, 7 million on the Foreign Ministry and 3 million on the site of the prime minister.

A ministry spokesman said while the attacks have come from around the world, most have been from Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"The ministry's computer division will continue to block the millions of cyber attacks," Steinitz said. "We are enjoying the fruits of our investment in recent years in developing computerized defence systems." Steinitz has instructed his ministry to operate in emergency mode to counter attempts to undermine government sites.

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