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Obama Throws Down The Gauntlet Over Defense Cuts

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“If that’s an argument they want to have before the court of public opinion that is an argument I am more than willing to engage in,” defiant president tells House Democrats meeting in Virginia. “It won't be smooth it won't be simple.”

Image by Yuri Gripas / Reuters

LANSDOWNE, Va. — President Barack Obama told House Democrats that immigration, gun control and putting an end to the string of economic crises that have ruled Washington remain his top priorities for the year and that, if the party sticks to it's principles, "I expect Nancy Pelosi will be speaker again."

Addressing House Democrats' annual retreat at the Landsdowne golf resort and spa, Obama told the crowd of lawmakers that "I love Nancy Pelosi … she just generates good looking grandbabies."

On the biggest issue facing the country in the short-term — a series of fiscal deadlines that could each send the country in a new recession or depression — Obama told Democrats that he is "prepared eager and anxious to do a big deal a big package that ends this governance by crisis."

But he made clear he wasn't simply going to go along with Republican demands for massive spending cuts, insisting it be a "balanced package that will reduce our long term deficit and debt but will also allow us to invest in those things we need right now."

"What they suggest is the only way to replace it is to cut social cut Medicare and not close a single loophole … If that's an argument they want to have before the court of public opinion that is an argument I am more than willing to engage in," a defiant Obama said.

On immigration reform, Obama noted that "I said this is going to be a top priority and an early priority … [and] I am heartened" by bipartisan talks in the House and Senate.

"I recognize that politics aren't always easy … but what I also know is that part of our strength is our youth and dynamism and our history of attracting talent from all over the globe. Ive seen some of that talent in the young DREAMERS I've met," he said.

He also urged Congress to address gun violence and to "do so recognizing that again there are regional diff here, and we should respect those … guns means something differ for somebody who grew up on a farm or rural community and someone who grew up in a city."

"But we can't have a situation where 20 more of our children or 100 more of our children are shot in a senseless fashion," Obama added.

Before ending his remarks to begin a question and answer situation — which, predictably, was closed to the press — Obama acknowledged his often difficult relationship with not only Congress and Republicans, but members of his own party.

"It won't be smooth, it won't be simple; there will be frustrations. There will be times when you guys are mad at me, and I'll occasionally read bout it. But as long as we keep in mind why we came here in the first place … if we keep that in mind every single day I have no doubt we'll continue the extraordinary progress we've made already," he said.


Chinese Hackers Targeted The Center For American Progress

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The liberal institution joins the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal .

The Center for American Progress's computer systems have been targeted by Chinese hackers, a spokesperson for the progressive Washington organization confirmed today.

Vice president for communications Andrea Purse confirmed that the hacking had taken place, but declined to provide details on the form or scope of the attack.

CAP, which runs the ThinkProgress network of blogs and is a central hub for Democratic politics and policy, isn't the first U.S. media entity to be hit by hackers from China: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and the Washington Post have all been attacked recently. The New York Times was hacked for months after the paper published an exposé on the financials of Premier Wen Jiabao. The hackers stole user passwords for Times employees and even hacked into the email of David Barboza, who broke the Wen Jiabao story.

The attacks seem to come after news organizations publish critical coverage of China, like the Times' Wen Jiabao story or Bloomberg's story last year about the wealth accumulated by Xi Jinping, who has since become China's new leader.

"Journalists are on notice," Slate's Farhad Manjoo wrote in January. "If you investigate the Chinese government, Chinese hackers will come after you."

Purse didn't specify what led the Chinese to hack CAP.

Obama And The Drone Awakening

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The release of Justice Department documents is an exercise in “CYA.” “It's not clear that they have fully obeyed their own guidelines.”

Debris left by a U.S. drone air strike that targeted suspected al-Qaeda militants in August 2012 in Yemen.

Image by Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

A strange thing happened in America this week: The country started to show signs of outrage over the Obama administration's targeted killing program. The occasion: the leak of a now infamous Department of Justice white paper to NBC's Mike Isikoff outlining the legal arguments the administration has used to justify the secret killings of three American citizens — one of them a 16-year-old boy — since 2009. That memo became the basis for today's confirmation hearings of drone program architect John Brennan, the Obama administration's intelligence guru who is currently chasing David Petraeus' old job as director of the CIA. (Brennan reportedly was the first to tell Petraeus he needed to resign.)

This is The Drone Awakening many of Obama's fiercest civil liberties critics on both the left and right have been pushing toward: a public accounting of the legality and morality of a program that has gone on in secret for more than 10 years now. Drone strikes expanded exponentially under Obama, from 52 drone strikes under Bush to the Nobel Peace Prize winner's 311. (Those numbers are just for Pakistan; the Obama administration has ordered 61 others in Somalia and Yemen.) Critics of the program believe it violates the most basic of constitutional principles, mainly, the right to due process, as well as the general qualms about its imprecise nature, which has left as many as 4,515 dead, including 216 civilians under the age of 18 — kids. As Senator Ron Wyden told the Oregonian: "It's not too much to ask that the president and the executive branch tell the American people why they have the authority to kill American citizens."

But the recent eagerness to discuss drones — Obama authorized the release of more DOJ memos to Congress this week — isn't just a reminder of the administration's promised commitment to transparency. It's also an attempt to provide the legal cover for actions the administration has already taken as explanations are being demanded of them at home and abroad. Two weeks ago, the United Nations launched an investigation into legal and human rights implications of targeted drone killings. Researchers will examine 25 specific cases where civilian casualties have been recorded. The investigation will take into consideration photographs, original witness statements, satellite images, and forensic evidence. Putting the memos out is a "CYA," or cover-your-ass strategy, notes national security expert Daniel Goure at the Lexington Institute.

"Are they trying to cover past actions? Sure. If you think about it, they're just framing the incidents," to counter human rights groups, says Goure. "By putting out the memo, they're trying to [CYA], but they might end up in a worse situation because it's not clear that they have fully obeyed their own guidelines... This is the rationale for everything you've done, and do all the cases fit?"

Brennan's confirmation today has brought out the debate that didn't happen during the 2012 election. Those on the left who were dissatisfied with the drone program largely kept quiet, and those who remained vocal were ignored. Now even Obama allies, like Wyden, have promised to ask tough questions of the aspiring CIA chief.

While the drone debate has taken center stage, a myriad of court challenges designed to penetrate the Obama administration's expansion of the national security state — including lawsuits over the ability to eavesdrop on Americans and the authorization of the military to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without a trial — have gained traction. The ACLU alone has its name on five drone-related lawsuits, and on Wednesday, a federal appeals court heard the case of Hedges v. Obama — so far one of the most successful legal challenges to date, which forced the Obama administration to defend a controversial provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, section 1021, regarding the indefinite detention of American citizens. (The Supreme Court is going to take up Hedges' other lawsuit — over warrantless wiretapping of journalists — in June.) And on the cultural front, the hit documentary at the Sundance Film Festival Dirty Wars will receive national distribution in theaters, making it the first drone-focused project of its kind with the potential to reach a broad audience. Meanwhile, the increasingly popular show Homeland, on Showtime, in fact features the immorality of an American drone attack as a key plot point.

Interestingly enough, until today, much of what we'd learned about the drone program has come through the work of lawyers, investigative journalists, and human rights activists. With the work of reporters at The New York Times and Washington Post like Charlie Savage, Scott Shane, and Greg Miller, along with independent journalists like Jeremy Scahill (who stars in Dirty Wars) and, critically, human rights activist Clive Stafford Smith and Pratap Chatterjee from the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism (who've produced the most credible numbers regarding civilian casualties), among others, we've learned about the kill lists, the "disposition matrix," "bug splat," "signature strikes," "personality strikes," as well as glimpses of the administration's internal process of drafting the legal rationales; names of the victims; and the Kafka-esque nature of the "secret laws," as Senator Wyden put it, of the Obama administration.

The Obama administration has vigorously resisted these disclosures — addressing the issue only a handful of times, and, ridiculously, yesterday pointing reporters to the president's comment about drones on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show as proof of their transparency. The drone strikes, White House spokesperson Jay Carney declared, were "legal, ethical, and wise." Carney's comments happened to occur the day before a New York Times story documented how one innocent Yemeni man who had spoken out against al-Qaeda, cleric Salem Ahmed Al Jaber, was killed when he tried to meet with alleged al-Qaeda linked militants for a meeting to resolve their dispute. Killing an innocent religious figure who opposed al-Qaeda does not seem to fit the definition of "wise," perhaps.

That same Times story, unfortunately, was marred by the disclosure of a CIA base in Saudi Arabia that the Times had agreed to keep secret at the request of the White House. The White House, according to the paper, was concerned that reporting about the base would jeopardize CIA counterterror operations as well as upset our Saudi allies, who wanted to hide the existence of the CIA's drone hub from their population. The Washington Post fell over itself to keep up with the Times, finally informing us that they, too, had helped keep the CIA's secret — noting that they'd only referred to the drone base in the past as one on "the Arabian peninsula." Hilariously, as it turns out, the Post's eagerness to take credit for a scoop they didn't publish made them all look like assholes: As Adrian Chen noted, the Saudi base had been previously reported by both Fox News and the London Telegraph as early as 2011.

The program isn't going away — the administration's drone romance is part of the strategy to avoid the kind of catastrophic ground wars of the previous decade. It's part of an evolution to find a foreign-policy balance that hits "the sweet spot," as one senior administration official described it to me — not a quagmire in the Middle East, but not a move back to "pre-9/11" posture. That desire to avoid another Iraq, though, has turned into its own less visible nightmare. "Is this a power you really want to turn over to the president of the United States and the intelligence community? It's not policing, and it's not war," continued Goure, the national security expert. "This is dangerous as hell, and it's the weapon of choice for this administration, which is terrifying."


—CJ Lotz contributed reporting to this story.

5 Things House Democrats Can Do At Their Fancy Retreat This Week

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House Democrats will meet at Lansdowne Resort in Virginia this week.

Hit the links.

Hit the links.

The resort boasts "45 holes of championship golf."

Image by Mike Blake / Reuters

Go wine tasting.

Go wine tasting.

Lansdowne Resort advertises its proximity to Virginian vineyards.

Source: gossipdavid.com

Chow down.

Chow down.

With five restaurants on resort property, there are plenty of options.

Image by Mario Tama / Getty Images

Take a limo sightseeing to DC.

Take a limo sightseeing to DC.

There's no place like home.

Source: farm8.staticflickr.com


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LAPD Spree Killer's Supposed Full Manifesto Shows Support For Gun Control And President Obama

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Police asked a Los Angeles Fox affiliate to remove the manifesto, originally reported to be that of alleged gunman Christopher Dorner, shortly after publishing. The request from police indicates media outlets have been distributing and reporting on a highly edited version of the manifesto.

A photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows three images of suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer.

Image by LAPD Police Dept. / AP

While the search for fired Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner continues, several versions of a manifesto believed to have been written by Dorner have been circulating around the Internet. Many of the versions are redacted to remove the names of Dorner targets.

But a version that was originally posted on Fox's Los Angeles affiliate KTTV also contained quotes on President Obama, MSNBC, Chris Christie, Jon Huntsman, Hillary Clinton, George H.W Bush, and support for gun control. The version of the manifesto was obtained and posted on Fox LA 12 hours ago, but the link now returns an error page. A representative of Fox LA told BuzzFeed they pulled most of the manifesto after a request from police.

A version of the Fox story remains online on a mobile version of the site and contains names of those targeted who police have asked news outlets to retract. The police haven't commented on either version of the manifesto but have said they are protecting individuals mentioned and their families.

This is the section that was in the pulled version that relates to President Obama and gun control:

If you had a well regulated AWB, this would not happen. The time is now to reinstitute a ban that will save lives. Why does any sportsman need a 30 round magazine for hunting? Why does anyone need a suppressor? Why does anyone need a AR15 rifle? This is the same small arms weapons system utilized in eradicating Al Qaeda, Taliban, and every enemy combatant since the Vietnam war. Don't give me that crap that its not a select fire or full auto rifle like the DoD uses. That's bullshit because troops who carry the M-4/M-16 weapon system for combat ops outside the wire rarely utilize the select fire function when in contact with enemy combatants. The use of select fire probably isn't even 1% in combat. So in essence, the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle is the same as the M-4/M-16. These do not need to be purchased as easily as walking to your local Walmart or striking the enter key on your keyboard to "add to cart". All the firearms utilized in my activities are registered to me and were legally purchased at gun stores and private party transfers. All concealable weapons (pistols) were also legally register in my name at police stations or FFL's. Unfortunately, are you aware that I obtained class III weapons (suppressors) without a background check thru NICS or DROS completely LEGALLY several times? I was able to use a trust account that I created on quicken will maker and a $10 notary charge at a mailbox etc. to obtain them legally. Granted, I am not a felon, nor have a DV misdemeanor conviction or active TRO against me on a NCIC file. I can buy any firearm I want, but should I be able to purchase these class III weapons (SBR's, and suppressors) without a background check and just a $10 notary signature on a quicken will maker program? The answer is NO. I'm not even a resident of the state i purchased them in. Lock n Load just wanted money so they allow you to purchase class III weapons with just a notarized trust, military ID. Shame on you, Lock n Load. NFA and ATF need new laws and policies that do not allow loopholes such as this. In the end, I hope that you will realize that the small arms I utilize should not be accessed with the ease that I obtained them. Who in there right mind needs a fucking silencer!!! who needs a freaking SBR AR15? No one. No more Virginia Tech, Columbine HS, Wisconsin temple, Aurora theatre, Portland malls, Tucson rally, Newtown Sandy Hook. Whether by executive order or thru a bi-partisan congress an assault weapons ban needs to be re-instituted. Period!!!

Mia Farrow said it best. "Gun control is no longer debatable, it's not a conversation, its a moral mandate."

Sen. Feinstein, you are doing the right thing in leading the re-institution of a national AWB. Never again should any public official state that their prayers and thoughts are with the family. That has become cliche' and meaningless. Its time for action. Let this be your legacy that you bestow to America. Do not be swayed by obstacles, antagaonist, and naysayers. Remember the innocent children at Austin, Kent, Stockton, Fullerton, San Diego, Iowa City, Jonesboro, Columbine, Nickel Mines, Blacksburg, Springfield, Red Lake, Chardon, Aurora, and Newtown. Make sure this never happens again!!!

In my cache you will find several small arms. In the cache, Bushmaster firearms, Remington precision rifles, and AAC Suppressors (silencers). All of these small arms are manufactured by Cerberus/Freedom Group. The same company responsible for the Portland mall shooting, Webster , NY, and Sandy Hook massacre.

You disrespect the office of the POTUS/Presidency and Commander in Chief. You call him Kenyan, mongroid, halfrican, muslim, and FBHO when in essence you are to address him as simply, President. The same as you did to President George W. Bush and all those in the highest ranking position of our land before him. Just as I always have. You question his birth certificate, his educational and professional accomplishments, and his judeo-christian beliefs. You make disparaging remarks about his dead parents. You never questioned the fact that his former opponent, the honorable Senator John McCain, was not born in the CONUS or that Bush had a C average in his undergrad. Electoral Candidates children (Romney) state they want to punch the president in the face during debates with no formal repercussions. No one even questioned the fact that the son just made a criminal threat toward the President. You call his wife a Wookie. Off the record, I love your new bangs, Mrs. Obama. A woman whose professional and educational accomplishments are second to none when compared to recent First wives. You call his supporters, whether black, brown, yellow, or white, leeches, FSA, welfare recipients, and ni$&er lovers. You say this openly without any discretion. Before you start with your argument that you believe I would vote for Obama because he has the same skin color as me, fuck you. I didn't vote in this last election as my choice of candidate, John Huntsman, didn't win the primary candidacy for his party. Mr. President, I haven't agreed with all of your decisions but of course I haven't agreed with all of your predecessors decisions. I think you've done a hell of a job with what you have been dealt and how you have managed it. I shed a tear the night you were initially elected President in 2008. I never thought that day would occur. A black man elected president in the U.S. in my lifetime. I cracked a smiled when you were re-elected in 2012 because I really didn't think you were going to pull that one off. Romney, stop being a sore loser. You could've exited graciously and still contributed significantly to public service, not now. Mr. President, get back to work. Many want to see you fail as they have stated so many times previously. Unfortunately, if you fail, the U.S. fails but your opponents do not concern themselves about the big picture. Do not forget your commitment to transparency in your administration. Sometimes I believe your administration forgets that. America, you will realize today and tomorrow that this world is made up of all human beings who have the same general needs and wants in life for themselves, their kin, community, and state. That is the freedom to LIVE and LOVE. They may eat different foods, enjoy different music, have different dialects, or speak a second language, but in essence are no different from you and I. This is America. We are not a perfect sovereign country as we have our own flaws but we are the closest that will ever exist.

Other sections focused on MSNBC:

Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Pat Harvey, Brian Williams, Soledad Obrien, Wolf Blitzer, Meredith Viera, Tavis Smiley, and Anderson Cooper, keep up the great work and follow Cronkite's lead. I hold many of you in the same regard as Tom Brokaw and the late Peter Jennings. Cooper, stop nagging and berating your guest, they're your (guest). Mr. Scarborough, we met at McGuire's pub in P-cola in 2002 when I was stationed there. It was an honor conversing with you about politics, family, and life.

Willie Geist, you're a talented and charismatic journalist. Stop with all the talk show shenanigans and get back to your core of reporting. Your future is brighter than most.

And the NRA, Chris Christie, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton:

Mr. Vice President, do your due diligence when formulating a concise and permanent national AWB plan. Future generations of Americans depend on your plan and advisement to the president. I've always been a fan of yours and consider you one of the few genuine and charismatic politicians. Damn, sounds like an oxymoron calling you an honest politician. It's the truth.

Hillary Clinton. You'll make one hell of a president in 2016. Much like your husband, Bill, you will be one of the greatest. Look at Castro in San Antonio as a running mate or possible secretary of state. He's (good people) and I have faith and confidence in him. Look after Bill. He was always my favorite President. Chelsea grew up to be one hell of an attractive woman. No disrespect to her husband.

Gov. Chris Christie. What can I say? You're the only person I would like to see in the White House in 2016 other than Hillary. You're America's no shit taking uncle. Do one thing for your wife, kids, and supporters. Start walking at night and eat a little less, not a lot less, just a little. We want to see you around for a long time. Your leadership is greatly needed.

Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA, you're a vile and inhumane piece of shit. You never even showed 30 seconds of empathy for the children, teachers, and families of Sandy Hook. You deflected any type of blame/responsibility and directed it toward the influence of movies and the media. You are a failure of a human being. May all of your immediate and distant family die horrific deaths in front of you.

Another section focused on Piers Morgan:

Revoke the citizenship of Fareed Zakaria and deport him. I've never heard a positive word about America or its interest from his mouth, ever. On the same day, give Piers Morgan an indefinite resident alien and Visa card. Mr. Morgan, the problem that many American gun owners have with you and your continuous discussion of gun control is that you are not an American citizen and have an accent that is distinct and clarifies that you are a foreigner. I want you to know that I agree with you 100% on enacting stricter firearm laws but you must understand that your critics will always have in the back of their mind that you are native to a country that we won our sovereignty from while using firearms as a last resort in defense and you come from a country that has no legal private ownership of firearms. That is disheartening to American gun owners and rightfully so.

UPDATE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the station as KTLA instead of KTTV. The article has since been updated.

This Is The Single Most Embarrassing Personnel Decision By A Member Of Congress In 2013

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A bad tweet , and a swift removal from his job for Raul Labrador spokesman Phil Hardy. A seemingly minor offense.

Raul Labrador's spokesman sent this tweet from his account during the Super Bowl. He deleted it 14 seconds later.

Raul Labrador's spokesman sent this tweet from his account during the Super Bowl. He deleted it 14 seconds later.

He meant to send it from his own account.

He meant to send it from his own account.

Via: http://%20He%20meant%20to%20send%20it%20from%20his%20own%20account.

And he got fired for over it according to the Washington Post.

And he got fired for over it according to the Washington Post.

Video: Code Pink Protesters Clear The Room At John Brennan Confirmation Hearing

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Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein forced to call a recess when several Code Pink protesters interrupted Brennan's confirmation hearing for the CIA directorship. The room was cleared and Code Pink wasn't allowed back in.

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9 Sizzling Examples Of Wolf Blitzer And Kate Bolduan's On Screen Chemistry

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CNN execs are raving about how The Situation Room's Kate Bolduan is “born to anchor,” and that means the days of her burning up the cable news scene together with Wolf Blitzer are probably not long for the small screen. Say it ain't so, Zuck!

Kate calling Wolf out when he was stuck in the No Fun Zone.

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This "You!" "No, YOU!" adorableness.

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Energy Secretary Won't Confirm Or Deny He Woke Up Hungover Next To A Solar Panel

Senator Makes Torture Joke At CIA Confirmation Hearing

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A joke about waterboarding from Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) at John Brennan's confirmation hearing.

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Obama's Changing Of The Guard Leaves Anti-Genocide Figure Out

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Accomplishments in Libya, frustration elsewhere for Samantha Power. “She doesn't have the sharp elbows,” says Galbraith.

Image by Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

The planned departure of Samantha Power from the Obama White House was met with little surprise — and only a little disappointment — by her friends and allies who had hoped the administration would press harder for international human rights.

Power, the writer and thinker who wrote the book, literally, on genocide, and an advisor to Obama on foreign policy since his days in the Senate, saw her influence wane in the past four years in government. People who know her say that she grew frustrated in an administration that she saw as more political and less substantively engaged in foreign policy than she'd expected, and that she never fully penetrated the culture of Obama's tight inner circle. Power is, in fact, one of a cadre of accomplished and well-known figures of Obama's first term being replaced, in his second, by a lower-profile professional political class.

"There's a type in Washington that spends their career figuring out how to advance, and they make some difference at the margin, but their success is measured by how long they manage to be in government," said Peter Galbraith, a former senior American diplomat and friend of Power's from their days together in the Balkans in the 1990s, when Galbraith was the ambassador to Croatia and Power was a journalist. Power, 42, is one of the "people who are rarer, and their success is measured not by what position they achieved but by what difference they made," he said.

Galbraith also said he "expected" her departure after the only logical path up in the administration was blocked.

"I think she had hoped that Susan Rice would be secretary of state and she would be ambassador to the U.N.," he said.

Power serves as a special assistant to the president and is the National Security Council's senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights. As a star journalist and academic, Power wrote 2003's A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, a book that helped define the liberal interventionist ideology championed by figures like General Wesley Clark (whose 2004 presidential campaign she backed). George W. Bush appropriated elements of it to make the case for war in Iraq. And Power was seen as one of Obama's closest advisors during his time in the Senate.

But her rise in foreign policy circles was inadvertently blocked when, during Obama's 2008 campaign, she referred to Hillary Clinton as a "monster" and resigned amid the subsequent controversy. She joined the administration at a staff level that struck some of her allies as unexpectedly obscure; but there was no space for her in the Clinton State Department. Meanwhile, operatives formed in Washington's foreign policy politics ascended to the upper echelon. It was, to some, a familiar story: An academic goes to Washington and can't play the necessary bloodless games.

Though Galbraith argues that Power was "very influential behind the scenes," others say she arrived in the administration to find her efforts to put genocide prevention front and center quashed by more pragmatic, political figures like National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, new chief-of-staff Denis McDonough and others.

Power leaves associated, in particular, with one liberal interventionist policy, a vocal role in pushing the U.S. to intervene in Libya last year. Other initiatives of hers, though, had less obvious impact. The Atrocities Prevention Board, in particular, was received as an almost-Orwellian bureaucratic palliative, it being formed during the conflict between the Syrian government and its people that has left over 60,000 dead.

"Samantha was never going to be the run-the-show kind of person," Galbraith said. "She doesn't have the sharp elbows, she doesn't have the bureaucratic mind-set of the Washington types — the people who have spent their life on Capitol Hill and in the White House, like Donilon or McDonough."

Power didn't return a request for an interview. Her husband, Cass Sunstein, left his government post last year to take a teaching position at Harvard Law School; the couple has two young children. Power is still considered a leading candidate for the U.N. post, should it open up at some point.

"While she is likely to return to the administration, no decisions have been made on her next steps," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told The Cable last week. "Samantha has been a powerful voice in this administration and a long-time friend and adviser to the President."

Galbraith, a longtime friend and ally of the late Richard Holbrooke — who was himself something of a mentor to Power — argued that Power's relatively lesser position was no reflection of her abilities or influence.

"You can compare her to Richard Holbrooke," Galbraith said. "He never made it to secretary of state, but his impact on U.S. foreign policy far exceeded that of the secretary of state."

Bill Clinton Warns House Democrats "We Need An Economic Strategy Here"

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Former president gives blunt and sobering assessment of the landscape Democrats will face in upcoming midterm elections.

Image by Joe Scarnici / Getty Images

LEESBURG, Virginia — Former President Bill Clinton bluntly warned House Democrats they must pivot from a defensive footing against Republicans and express their own positive agenda if they are going to compete with the GOP next year.

"Make no mistake, the Republicans are going to try very hard to make it not as easy for you to win [on negativity] … we are now going to have to have an affirmative agenda for jobs and innovation," Clinton said, adding that the party must also take a careful approach to immigration reform and gun violence.

"I believe you will get immigration reform … I would be as forward leaning as I could on this issue," Clinton said, arguing that the nation's broken immigration system has become a drag on the economy.

While Clinton praised Obamacare, he cautioned that Democrats need to be careful with how it is implemented and ensure the public knows they are still working on it. "We Democrats own the health reform issue now … [and] it really matters how it's implemented. And if certain problems come up that need changing, you need to get caught trying to change it even if you can't pass it."

During a more than 30-minute-long speech to a gathering of House Democrats, the popular ex-president — and potential future First Husband — added, "The most important thing I can say to you is, this is a job. It is a job. And keeping it requires you to do it and sell it simultaneously … [but] midterms are more difficult to draw the contrasts more favorable to you, and the turnout goes down."

Clinton also warned his fellow Democrats that they must look to the past in mapping out plans as they proceed.

"I did 133 events in 2010, and I remember I told Hillary somewhere in the process of it, 'You know, we're going to take a terrible lickin'.' And she said, 'Why do you keep doing more events?' And I said, 'I don't want them on my conscience … I went through this in '94 and I don't want to go through that again,'" Clinton said, explaining that the 1994 midterm election weighed heavily on him during the rest of his presidency.

Following that midterm defeat, "I thought about the people who were defeated … and I thought a lot about those that survived and why they did it," he said, for voting for his agenda items, including an assault weapons ban.

Significantly, Clinton also said that while "it's obvious as a political strategy that it is very much in the interest of our party … to get the midterm electoral to look more like the president electorate," the party should also look for ways to appeal to white, middle-of-the-road Republicans and independents.

"I also think that we should rely on demography alone … you need to turn into them, not away from them," he said, arguing, "I see this whole gun issue as an opportunity and not a toxic landmine. But it really depends on how you do it."

"It's important not to give up on anybody, to talk to them. The worst thing that can happen is they can see we're not crazy," he said.

Clinton's somber speech to House Democrats came at the end of the conference's annual three-day retreat at the exclusive Lansdowne resort during which Democrats mapped out their legislative and political strategies for the coming year.

Earlier in the day, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert interviewed Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during a closed-door session. Although the press was not allowed to view Colbert's interview, Rep. Steve Cohen tweeted that at one point the comedian quipped, "Republicans must embrace Hispanics unless science finds way for Hispanic women to give birth to old white men!"

On the "war on women," a Democratic source said Colbert noted, "Some of my best friends are women. I spent nine months in one." The source added Colbert said he believes his sister Lulu will win her election to the House in South Carolina's special election this spring.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also addressed the conference earlier in the week.

White House: The Sequester Is The Worst Thing This Side Of The Zombie Apocalypse

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Dramatic cuts would affect Department of Justice, Food and Drug Administration, Meals on Wheels, and special education funding, among others.

WASHINGTON — White House officials are trying to turn public opinion against the mandatory spending cuts known as the "sequester," warning of dramatic cuts to defense and non-defense government programs in a fact sheet distributed to reporters.

"The effective percentage reductions will be approximately 9% for non-defense programs and 13% for defense programs," the White House said.

Among the reductions outlined:
• The effective loss of 1,000 federal agents.
• The Department of Justice will have to "furlough hundreds of Federal prosecutors."
• The Food and Drug Administration could conduct 2,100 fewer inspections at domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture food products.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could have to pull its inspectors off the job for some period of time. This would mean roughly 1,200 fewer inspections of the nation's most dangerous workplaces.
• Cuts to special-education funding would eliminate federal support for more than 7,200 teachers, aides, and other staff who provide essential instruction and support to preschool and school-aged students with disabilities.
• Federally assisted programs like Meals on Wheels would be able to serve 4 million fewer meals to seniors.
• Cuts to the Mental Health Block Grant program would result in over 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children not receiving needed mental health services.

Republicans have noted that Obama first proposed the mandatory cuts — designed to be too onerous and thereby forcing lawmakers to reach an agreement on deficit reduction.

"We agree the sequester is the wrong way to cut spending," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Speaker of the House John Boehner. "That's why we proposed a different mechanism to force deficit reduction in 2011. That's why we've twice passed legislation to replace it with common-sense cuts and reforms. And that's why the president needs to finally stand up and embrace responsible cuts and reforms to our mandatory spending programs. The president got his higher taxes on the wealthy last month — with no corresponding cuts. The tax issue has been resolved. And spending is still the problem. It's time to finally make the cuts and reforms we all know are needed to save and strengthen our safety-net programs. The president is out of excuses. We're glad they're laying out the devastating consequences of the president's sequester, but the question remains: What are they willing to DO to prevent it?"

Obama addressed reporters earlier this week, calling for a short-term stay of the cuts with tens of billions in targeted spending cuts and tax increases. Republican lawmakers have expressed opposition to raising revenue from eliminating loopholes and deductions in the tax code.

One line the White House might have decided to leave out: "The IRS would be forced to complete fewer tax return reviews."

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2013

FACT SHEET: EXAMPLES OF HOW THE SEQUESTER WOULD IMPACT MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES, JOBS AND ECONOMIC SECURITY

Unless Congress acts by March 1st, a series of automatic cuts—called a sequester—that threaten thousands of jobs and the economic security of the middle class will take effect. There is no question that we need to cut the deficit, but the President believes it should be done in a balanced way that protects investments that the middle class relies on. Already, the President has worked with Congress to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, but there's more to do. The President believes we can not only avoid the harmful effects of a sequester but also reduce the deficit by $4 trillion total by cutting even more wasteful spending and eliminating tax loopholes for the wealthy.

Unfortunately, many Republicans in Congress refuse to ask the wealthy to pay a little more by closing tax loopholes so that we can protect investments that are helping grow our economy and keep our country safe. Our economy is poised to take off but we cannot afford a self-inflicted wound from Washington. We cannot simply cut our way to prosperity, and if Republicans continue to insist on an unreasonable cuts-only approach, the middle class risks paying the price. The most damaging effects of a sequester on the middle class are:

· Cuts to education: Our ability to teach our kids the skills they'll need for the jobs of the future would be put at risk. 70,000 young children would be kicked off Head Start, 10,000 teacher jobs would be put at risk, and funding for up to 7,200 special education teachers, aides, and staff could be cut.

· Cuts to small business: Small businesses create two-thirds of all new jobs in America and instead of helping small businesses expand and hire, the automatic cuts triggered by a sequester would reduce loan guarantees to small businesses by up to $540 million.

· Cuts to food safety: Outbreaks of foodborne illness are a serious threat to families and public health. If a sequester takes effect, up to 2,100 fewer food inspections could occur, putting families at risk and costing billions in lost food production.

· Cuts to research and innovation: In order to compete for the jobs of the future and to ensure that the next breakthroughs to find cures for critical diseases are developed right here in America, we need to continue to lead the world in research and innovation. Most Americans with chronic diseases don't have a day to lose, but under a sequester progress towards cures would be delayed and several thousand researchers could lose their jobs. Up to 12,000 scientists and students would also be impacted.

· Cuts to mental health: If a sequester takes effect, up to 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children could go untreated. This would likely lead to increased hospitalizations, involvement in the criminal justice system, and homelessness for these individuals.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) now calculates that sequestration will require an annual reduction of roughly 5 percent for nondefense programs and roughly 8 percent for defense programs. However, given that these cuts must be achieved over only seven months instead of 12, the effective percentage reductions will be approximately 9 percent for nondefense programs and 13 percent for defense programs. These large and arbitrary cuts will have severe impacts across the government.

More detailed explanations of these cuts as well as additional areas that will be impacted include:

Security and Safety

· FBI and other law enforcement – The FBI and other law enforcement entities would see a reduction in capacity equivalent to more than 1,000 Federal agents. This loss of agents would significantly impact our ability to combat violent crime, pursue financial crimes, secure our borders, and protect national security.

· U.S. Attorneys – The Department of Justice would need to furlough hundreds of Federal prosecutors. As a result, approximately 1,000 fewer criminal cases nationwide would be prosecuted, and some civil litigation defending the financial interests of the United States would not be pursued, potentially costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

· Emergency responders – FEMA would need to eliminate funding for State and local grants that support firefighter positions and State and local emergency management personnel, hampering our ability to respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy and other emergencies.

Research and Innovation

· NIH research – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be forced to delay or halt vital scientific projects and make hundreds of fewer research awards. Since each research award supports up to seven research positions, several thousand personnel could lose their jobs. Many projects would be difficult to pursue at reduced levels and would need to be cancelled, putting prior year investments at risk. These cuts would delay progress on the prevention of debilitating chronic conditions that are costly to society and delay development of more effective treatments for common and rare diseases affecting millions of Americans.

· NSF research – The National Science Foundation (NSF) would issue nearly 1,000 fewer research grants and awards, impacting an estimated 12,000 scientists and students and curtailing critical scientific research.

· New drug approvals – The FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) would face delays in translating new science and technology into regulatory policy and decision-making, resulting in delays in new drug approvals. The FDA would likely also need to reduce operational support for meeting review performance goals, such as the recently negotiated user fee goals on new innovative prescription drugs and medical devices.

Economic Growth

· Small business assistance – Small Business Administration (SBA) loan guarantees would be cut by up to $540 million, constraining financing needed by small businesses to maintain and expand their operations and create jobs.

· Economic development – The Economic Development Administration's (EDA) ability to leverage private sector resources to support projects that spur local job creation would be restricted, likely resulting in more than 1,000 fewer jobs created than expected and leaving more than $47 million in private sector investment untapped.

· International trade – The International Trade Administration (ITA) would be forced to reduce its support for America's exporters, trimming assistance to U.S. businesses looking to increase their exports and expand operations into foreign markets. In addition, ITA would not be able to place staff in critical international growth markets, where there is a clear business opportunity for many American businesses to increase their sales and create jobs at home. These staff would have been part of a key program working to promote and facilitate global investment in the U.S., supporting thousands of new jobs through Foreign Direct Investment.

Government Services

· Food safety – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could conduct 2,100 fewer inspections at domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture food products while USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) may have to furlough all employees for approximately two weeks. These reductions could increase the number and severity of safety incidents, and the public could suffer more foodborne illness, such as the recent salmonella in peanut butter outbreak and the E. coli illnesses linked to organic spinach, as well as cost the food and agriculture sector millions of dollars in lost production volume.

· IRS customer service and tax compliance – The cuts to operating expenses and expected furloughs at the IRS would result in the inability of millions of taxpayers to get answers from IRS call centers and taxpayer assistance centers and would significantly delay IRS responses to taxpayer letters. The IRS would be forced to complete fewer tax return reviews and would experience reduced capacity to detect and prevent fraud, resulting in an inability to collect and protect billions of dollars in revenue annually. Cuts to the IRS would ultimately cost taxpayers and increase the deficit through lost revenue from recoveries and additional fraud and abuse.

· Native American programs - Tribes would lose almost $130 million in funding from the Department of the Interior. Reductions would be necessary in many areas including human services, law enforcement, schools, economic development and natural resources.

· Workplace safety – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could have to pull its inspectors off the job for some period of time. This would mean roughly 1,200 fewer inspections of the Nation's most dangerous workplaces, which would leave workers unprotected and could lead to an increase in worker fatality and injury rates.
Education

· Title I education funds – Title I education funds would be eliminated for more than 2,700 schools, cutting support for nearly 1.2 million disadvantaged students. This funding reduction would put the jobs of approximately 10,000 teachers and aides at risk. Students would lose access to individual instruction, afterschool programs, and other interventions that help close achievement gaps.

· Special education (IDEA) – Cuts to special education funding would eliminate Federal support for more than 7,200 teachers, aides, and other staff who provide essential instruction and support to preschool and school-aged students with disabilities.

· Head Start – Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 70,000 children, reducing access to critical early education. Community and faith based organizations, small businesses, local governments, and school systems would have to lay off over 14,000 teachers, teacher assistants, and other staff.

Economic Security

· Social Security applicant and beneficiary services – The Social Security Administration (SSA) would be forced to curtail service to the public and reduce program oversight efforts designed to make sure benefits are paid accurately and to the right people. Potential effects on SSA operations could include a reduction in service hours to the public, the closure of some offices, and a substantial growth in the backlog of Social Security disability claims.

· Senior meals – Federally-assisted programs like Meals on Wheels would be able to serve 4 million fewer meals to seniors. These meals contribute to the overall health and well-being of participating seniors, including those with chronic illnesses that are affected by diet, such as diabetes and heart disease, and frail seniors who are homebound. The meals can account for 50 percent or more of daily food for the majority of home‑delivered participants.

· Nutrition assistance for women, infants and children – Approximately 600,000 women and children would be dropped from the Department of Agriculture's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) from March through September. At least 1,600 State and local jobs could be lost as a result.

· Rental assistance – The Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental assistance to very low-income families, would face a significant reduction in funding, which would place about 125,000 families at immediate risk of losing their permanent housing.

· Emergency unemployment compensation – People receiving Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits would see their benefits cut by as much as 9.4 percent. Affected long-term unemployed individuals would lose an average of more than $400 in benefits that they and their families count on while they search for another job. Smaller unemployment checks will also have a negative impact on the economy as a whole. Economists have estimated that every dollar in unemployment benefits generates $2 in economic activity.

· Homelessness programs – More than 100,000 formerly homeless people, including veterans, would be removed from their current housing and emergency shelter programs, putting them at risk of returning to the streets.

Public Health

· Mental health and substance abuse services – Cuts to the Mental Health Block Grant program would result in over 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children not receiving needed mental health services. This cut would likely lead to increased hospitalizations, involvement in the criminal justice system, and homelessness for these individuals. In addition, close to 8,900 homeless persons with serious mental illness would not get the vital outreach, treatment, housing, and support they need through the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program.

· AIDS and HIV treatment and prevention – Cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program could result in 7,400 fewer patients having access to life saving HIV medications. And approximately 424,000 fewer HIV tests could be conducted by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) State grantees, which could result in increased future HIV transmissions, deaths from HIV, and costs in health care.

· Tribal services – The Indian Health Service and Tribal hospitals and clinics would be forced to provide 3,000 fewer inpatient admissions and 804,000 fewer outpatient visits, undermining needed health care in Tribal communities.

New Jersey Fire Fighters Sworn In On iPad Bible App

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Four Atlantic City, N.J., firemen were promoted to the rank of battalion chief Friday morning. But when officials at City Hall couldn't find a Bible for the oath of office, they decided to use an iPad Bible app instead.

Source: facebook.com

via NBC40's Sam Sweeney

Obama Calls For $9 Minimum Wage

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“In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty,” the White House says.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called for a 24 percent hike to the nation's federal minimum wage Tuesday evening in his State of the Union address, the first such increase since 2009 and the highest in real terms for more than 30 years.

The move — which will face a tough fight from Congressional Republicans — would provide a particular boost for young workers and, in particular, the waiters, busboys, baristas, bartenders, and other food service workers who make up the largest share of those earning the federal minimum. It would also likely face opposition from their employers.

The measure would raise the federal minimum wage in stages to $9 per hour from $7.25 per hour by the end of 2015 — it would then be indexed to inflation. The White House said the increase would affect over 15 million workers, allowing millions to rise out of poverty. The increase restores the inflation-adjusted minimum wage to 1981 levels.

The proposal actually represents a step back from Obama's campaign rhetoric in 2008, when he called for a $9.50 minimum wage by 2011.

Senior administration officials said Tuesday that Obama is a longtime supporter of efforts to raise the minimum wage and is renewing his push in his address to Congress to ensure the people who work full time jobs do not live in poverty. Officials, briefing the press on the condition of anonymity and that they not be directly quoted, noted that corporate executive and CEO pay has dramatically risen over the past few years while the minimum wage has been stagnant.

"We know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day's work with honest wages," Obama said. "But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we've put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That's wrong."

"So here's an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: let's tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on," Obama added.

The proposal is one component of Obama's economic-heavy address, in which he calls for creating "ladders of opportunities into the middle class" — a series of new and old proposals to raise Americans out of poverty.

It would also raise the minimum wage for hourly tipped hourly employees.


Obama Calls On Congress To Divert Oil And Gas Revenues To Alternative Energy Research

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Obama will threaten executive orders if Congress can't pass its own energy and climate legislation.

Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to divert revenues from oil and gas production to help fund alternative energy research and development, a plan that will almost certainly draw criticism from Republicans.

"It is a proposal that would repurpose royalties from oil and gas leases we already get towards (research and development) on technologies that move us away from oil," said Clark Stevens, the assistant White House press secretary.

The plan, which came as part of a sweeping energy proposal outlined by Obama during his State of the Union address to Congress, would take a more nuanced approach than "carbon tax" proposals long favored by environmentalists.

But the plan will still likely receive blowback from the oil and gas industries and their Capitol Hill defenders. Although in talking points the administration cast the tax as a way to "protect families" from "spikes" in energy costs, its primary goal is "shifting cars and trucks off oil."

Stevens said the White House drew this facet of its energy stance from a proposal by Securing America's Future Energy, a group helmed by business and military leaders.

In another move that will be sure to irk some Republicans, Obama urged Congress to permanently extend the renewable energy production tax credit, which was granted a short-term extension as part of the fiscal cliff deal. The credit provides a large chunk of funding to the wind-energy industry.

Additionally, the president proposed an "Energy Efficiency Race To The Top" to incentivize states to improve energy efficiency independent of the federal government. The program would be modeled after the Department of Education's Race to the Top fund, which awards grants to schools that most successfully implement innovative reforms.

In spite of the president's support, it will be difficult to win support for even one of his initiatives: Lawmakers have indicated that climate change will not likely be a priority during this Congress.

In a nod to that reality, Obama also made clear he would pursue executive orders and other unilateral executive branch actions should Congress fail to act.

Correction: An earlier version of this post characterized the president's plan as a "fossil fuel tax" and compared the plan to one submitted previously in Congress. In fact, the plan would redirect existing royalties collected by the federal government into the fund.

Obama Signs Executive Order To Protect Against Cyber Threats

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After hackers attack major U.S. media companies, the administration gets tough.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced steps taken Tuesday to step up the nation's response to emerging cyber-threats.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order hours before delivering his fourth State of the Union to Congress to strengthen cooperation between government agencies and the private sector to identify and respond to threats — including hacking — by sharing classified and unclassified information.

The order also calls for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a "technology neutral" framework for protecting critical infrastructure.

The administration also issued a Presidential Policy Directive to streamline government efforts to protect physical and cyber infrastructure, including updating the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and completing a "national critical infrastructure security and resilience research and development plan within 2 years."

"Critical infrastructure must be secure and able to withstand and rapidly recover from all hazards. Achieving this will require integration with the national preparedness system across prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery," the directive says.

The measures come weeks after revelations that major media companies and government agencies have come under hacking attacks. Neither the executive order nor the directive mentions any alleged perpetrators of large-scale cybercrimes— most often linked to China, and sometimes traced to elements of its government or military.

The Executive Order The Press Agreed To Keep Secret For Five Hours

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Embargoed until now.

Shortly before 4:20 p.m. Tuesday, the White House emailed reporters that President Obama had signed a highly anticipated Executive Order aimed at protecting cyber security.

The order — setting up new programs aimed at stopping online espionage and terrorism — was already the law of the land, signed by the president. But it was also secret.

The document was "embargoed until delivery of the President's in the State of the Union address" — despite the fact it had already been signed.

Such embargoes — imposed unilaterally, rather than agreed-upon — are not binding on news organizations, which weigh the urgency of the news against the headache of, for instance, being dropped from the White House's distribution list. BuzzFeed abided by the embargo, having participated in a background briefing on the move, but thought it appropriate to report on the unusual delay.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor explained in an email Administration's decision to, temporarily, conceal the new order: "We wanted to release the EO early on an embargoed basis because the subject matter is complicated and we knew you guys would have questions. It seemed more helpful for the press corps than sending it concurrent with the speech."

Vietor added "this isn't unprecedented. Take for example sanctions Executive Orders. They are signed one day, go into effect at midnight but are not released until the next day."

The new order appears, however, to have taken effect immediately; Vietor didn't respond to a follow up question about when the order took effect.

Keeping White House executive orders secret is far from unprecedented, but usually concerns actual secrets. In 2002, the Bush White House signed a controversial executive order allowing for warrantless surveillance on those suspected of terrorism.

According to a White House synopsis the Executive Order includes:

New information sharing programs to provide both classified and unclassified threat and attack information to U.S. companies. The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to produce unclassified reports of threats to U.S. companies and requires the reports to be shared in a timely manner. The Order also expands the Enhanced Cybersecurity Services program, enabling near real time sharing of cyber threat information to assist participating critical infrastructure companies in their cyber protection efforts.

The development of a Cybersecurity Framework. The Executive Order directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to lead the development of a framework of cybersecurity practices to reduce cyber risks to critical infrastructure. NIST will work collaboratively with industry to develop the framework, relying on existing international standards, practices, and procedures that have proven to be effective. To enable technical innovation, the Cybersecurity Framework will provide guidance that is technology neutral and that enables critical infrastructure sectors to benefit from a competitive market for products and service

Includes strong privacy and civil liberties protections based on the Fair Information Practice Principles. Agencies are required to incorporate privacy and civil liberties safeguards in their activities under this order. Those safeguards will be based upon the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPS) and other applicable privacy and civil liberties policies, principles, and frameworks. Agencies will conduct regular assessments of privacy and civil liberties impacts of their activities and such assessments will be made public.

Establishes a voluntary program to promote the adoption of the Cybersecurity Framework. The Department of Homeland Security will work with Sector-Specific Agencies like the Department of Energy and the Sector Coordinating Councils that represent industry to develop a program to assist companies with implementing the Cybersecurity Framework and to identify incentives for adoption.

Calls for a review of existing cybersecurity regulation. Regulatory agencies will use the Cybersecurity Framework to assess their cybersecurity regulations, determine if existing requirements are sufficient, and whether any existing regulations can be eliminated as no longer effective. If the existing regulations are ineffective or insufficient, agencies will propose new, cost-effective regulations based upon the Cybersecurity Framework and in consultation with their regulated companies. Independent regulatory agencies are encouraged to leverage the Cybersecurity Framework to consider prioritized actions to mitigate cyber risks for critical infrastructure consistent with their authorities.

The Internet Is Unusually Lukewarm On Michelle Obama's Dress

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Some said her dress looked like a little girl's holiday get-up. But those toned arms!

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

There were the usual fans.

There were the usual fans.

But some people thought she might get cold.

But some people thought she might get cold.

Some people just love sparkles.

Some people just love sparkles.


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Obama Tries To Turn Liberal Vision Into Policy

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A raised minimum wage, universal preschool, and more infrastructure spending.

President Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill, January 24, 2012.

Image by Pool / Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's fourth State of the Union offered a concrete, if smaller-scale, attempt to implement the surprisingly sweeping liberal vision he offered in his second inaugural address last month.

The most striking specifics — education reform and a minimum wage hike, in particular — he framed as part of a broad effort to lift more people into the middle class including tax reform and promoting equal pay laws. Among the education proposals — ensuring all children have access to high quality pre-schools and efforts to make colleges more accountable for tuition increases.

Aides said Obama views the speech as "act two" of a two-act play, the first being his Inaugural address three weeks ago. Last month he was hopeful in speaking for the history books. Tuesday night Obama was more understated, mindful of limits on what he can do alone, and focused on impressing Congress and the American people with the need for action.

He took the opportunity to make a political case to avert mandatory cuts, known as the sequester, timed to fall into place in the next two weeks. Obama warned the American public the cuts would be devastating, and encouraged Republican and Democratic lawmakers to reach a compromise.

"These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness," he said. "They'd devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research.They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs."

On gun control, Obama repeated his earlier calls for an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and a ban on high capacity magazines — and told lawmakers that he expects them to bring the proposals up for a vote, mentioning the recent shooting of Hadiya Pendleton, who participated in the Inaugural ceremonies just last month.

"Hadiya's parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence —They deserve a vote," Obama said, as lawmakers interrupted the speech by chanting the refrain. "Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote."

But on immigration reform Obama was more hands off, standing by his pledge to let congressional continue lawmakers work on a bipartisan agreement.

In an hour-long address clocking in at more than 6,400-words, the president also repeated his long-time calls for additional infrastructure spending to promote job creation, calling for $40 billion to repair structurally deficient bridges and $15 billion for demolition and rebuilding in blighted communities.

And Obama announced that the United States will begin negotiating a trade agreement with the European Union.

Before Obama took the podium, senior administration officials contested Republican spin that the address would be liberal like his inaugural, saying it reflects what the majority of Americans support.

However they refused to say how Obama will pay for his proposals, saying they would fall within the federal budget caps set in the 2011 Budget Control Act. They added that specifics would come out when the president's budget is released — likely in the middle of March.

"The reason some of these common-sense ideas are 'old' is because Congress hasn't acted on these yet," a White House official explained Monday. "The president isn't just going to give up because Congress hasn't acted on them yet."

The Full White House Fact Sheet On Obama's Proposals:

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