Barack Obama speaks on pulling troops out of Afghanistan Beginning This Year

Barack Obama speaks on pulling troops out of Afghanistan, which he says will be complete in 2014.

Obama Says Anthony Weiner Will Bounce Back From Sexting Scandal

Lupe Fiasco Bashes President Obama "To Me Obama Is The Biggest Terrorist"

Rapper Lupe Fiasco has never been one to bite his tongue as far as his political views are concerned. He's gone into even deeper water now by labeling President Obama a terrorist, during an interview with CBS News’ “What’s Trending.”

"In my fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America. " he said. "For me, I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s actually causing the other forms of terrorism. The root cause of the terrorism is the stuff that you as a government allow to happen and the foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists. And it’s easy for us because it’s really just some oil, which we can really get on our own.”

The rapper also said he sees voting as a waste of time.

"I don’t get involved in the political process because it’s meaningless, to be honest. First of all I’m a real big believer if I’m gonna vouch for someone, then I’m gonna stand behind everything that they do. That’s just how I am as a human being. So politicians aren’t gonna do that because I don’t want you to bomb some village in the middle of nowhere.”

Obama code-named ‘smart alec’ in Britain

Do Brits think Barack Obama is a bit of a "smart alec"?
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Obama hits car trouble in Ireland. 'The Beast' hits an unexpected snag

President Obama made quite an exit Monday as his armored car attempted to leave the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland.
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Gay Protester Dumps Glitter On Newt Gingrich At Book Signing "Feel The Rainbow Newt!"

Newt Gingrich's run for the White House in 2012 is off to a rocky start.

The Republican from Georgia bombed in his appearance on 'Meet The Press' Sunday when he criticized fellow Republican Paul Ryan's Medicare-cutting budget plan as "right-wing social engineering."

Gingrich later apologized for the comments, only to have an Iowa voter chastise him on camera for being "an embarrassment to the party." Suggesting he get out of the presidential race before he made a "bigger fool" of himself.

To top things off - a gay protester crashed Gingrich's book signing on Tuesday in Minneapolis by dumping a box full of glitter on him.

"Feel the rainbow, Newt. Stop the hate. Stop anti-gay politics. It's dividing our country and it's not fixing our economy," the protester said before being escorted away by security.

Source: ThisIs50

Trump Announces He Won't Run For President In 2012

Donald Trump announced today that he wouldn't be seeking the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

He released a statement that said:
"After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector."

Trump had been very critical of President Obama in the last several months. At one point leading the charge of the "birthers" who don't believe Obama was born in the United States despite him showing previous proof.

Trump took credit last month when Obama produced a long form birth certificate. But that seemed to kill his criticism of the President. It didn't help that he was made to look foolish at the most recent White House Correspondents' Dinner when the President roasted him for several minutes.

NBC had already announced it would replace Trump on the show if he were to run for the oval office.

Source: ThisIs50

Al Qaeda Affiliates In Somalia Threaten To Kill President Obama's Grandmother In Kenya

ABC reports: Security has been increased around the home of President Barack Obama's step-grandmother in Kenya after an African al Qaeda branch issued a personal threat against her, police said today.
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Bob Schieffer Calls Donald Trump Racist For Questioning How President Obama Got Into Harvard.

Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer fired shots at Donald Trump during his appearance on the CBS Evening News yesterday (April 27).

Schieffer took Trump to task for questioning whether or not President Obama's grades were good enough to get into Harvard Law School.

"I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard. We don't know a thing about this guy. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about our President." Trump said.

Schieffer was quick to fire back at Trump.

"That's just code for saying he got into law school because he's black," Schieffer said. "This is an ugly strain of racism that's running through this whole thing."

The controversy comes right on the heels of Obama producing his long-form birth certificate after being hounded by Trump and other right wingers, who had claimed he wasn't born in the United States.

Trump said recently that he has always gotten along with "the blacks". Another remark some saw as racist.

Source: ThisIs50

White House releases Obama birth certificate

The White House on Wednesday morning released the president's long form birth certificate (pdf) in an attempt to put "birther" questions to rest.
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Racist Tea Party Member sends emails that Shows Obama Family as Monkeys Are Leak (Video)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Civil rights activists are calling on an Orange County Republic party official to step down after she sent an email with a picture depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee.
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Obama caught on audio slamming GOP

Yesterday, President Obama delivered some of his harshest criticism yet of his recent battle with Republicans to fund the government.

However, Obama may not have intended for everybody to hear him.

While listening to an audio feed from a Chicago fundraiser Thursday night, CBS News reporter Mark Knoller heard Obama speaking with donors after other reporters had left the room. That's when the president really opened up about his disdain for the recent GOP pushback:

"I said, 'You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We'll have that debate. You're not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we're stupid?'" the president reportedly said.

Obama also complained about GOP attempts to attach a bill to the resolution to fund the government that would defund women's health services provider Planned Parenthood.

"Put it in a separate bill," the president said he told House Speaker John Boehner and his staff. "We'll call it up. And if you think you can overturn my veto, try it. But don't try to sneak this through."

The president also made clear he is no fan of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the GOP's Budget Committee chairman.

"When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant ... This is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill--but wasn't paid for," Obama reportedly said.

Source: Yahoo

How Obama plans to slash $4 tril from debt

After largely staying on the sidelines during the fight over the deficit, President Obama today jumped headfirst into the fray, laying out a broad framework to reduce the federal budget gap by $4 trillion over the next 12 years.
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The price of a government shutdown

So if the federal government shuts down, taxpayers would save a lot of money, right?

Not quite.

It would actually cost taxpayers money. And for every day the shutdown continues, the bill would go up.

"There is absolutely no way this saves money. Zip," said Bo Cutter, former director of the National Economic Council and a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

It's pretty hard to put an accurate price tag on a shutdown. Official estimates of the costs incurred during last major shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 vary widely.

And the White House hasn't produced an estimate of how much a shutdown might cost, but it does say it will cost something.

First, the government actually has to spend money in order to complete an orderly shutdown.

"When you have to shut something down, that costs money, and ramping something back up costs money," Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget said Thursday.

Imagine a government construction project. Since it's impossible to know how long the shutdown will last, workers are forced to wind down all operations and secure the work site. That all costs money.

It's a process that will be repeated all across the country, and in every government agency. Plus, whenever funding is restored, it will cost money to get the project back up to speed.

In the meantime, costs will increase the longer a shutdown drags on.

"The longer a shutdown is in place, the more extensive the costs become," said John F. Cooney, a partner at law firm Venable who designed shutdown plans for the government while employed at the Office of Management and Budget.

There is also the issue of federal worker pay.

When the clock strikes midnight and a shutdown starts, paychecks for federal workers stop. But that won't be saving taxpayers any money.

When a shutdown ends after Congress passes a spending bill, the "essential" workers who were kept on the job will automatically be paid for the time they worked during the shutdown.

And the 800,000 or so workers who might be furloughed? In every previous government shutdown, Congress has authorized back pay for them as well, even for days they didn't work. One caveat: There is no guarantee that will happen again.

But if it does, it'll be a double whammy. Workers will get their paychecks, but the work they normally do will have piled up in the meantime. When workers return, agencies might have to pay overtime just to catch up on all the work that wasn't done during the shutdown.

And not only will the government end up with a bigger bill, there will be less revenue as well.

Some agencies -- like the National Park Service -- charge user fees. When they close, no fees are collected. On an average day, visitors spend $32 million at National Parks.

There are also intangible costs, especially when the productivity of federal workers is considered.

"You've been working your ass off ... and someone comes to tell you that you are non-essential?" Cutter said. "There is a huge management morale issue when everyone comes back to work."

Of course, when a shutdown is considered in the context of the larger budget negotiations, the whole process will almost certainly result in savings for taxpayers. That's because both Democrats and Republicans agree that a compromise spending bill will slash tens of billions from the federal budget.

Source: Yahoo

Largely unseen photos of MLK's killer unveiled

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Long-forgotten photos that show James Earl Ray being brought to jail after his arrest for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. were unveiled Wednesday to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the civil rights leader's death.

Dozens of the striking black-and-white photos, along with letters Ray wrote from jail and other documents, were found in 2007 among old county records in a warehouse in east Memphis, Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said. A few photos were posted on The Commercial Appeal's website to accompany a story published Wednesday, and Leatherwood planned to make the rest available on a county website later in the day.

One of the photos shows Ray being patted down by an officer with his back to the camera and his arms spread out wide. Another shows the bespectacled Ray being led into the jail in handcuffs, wearing what appears to be a bullet-proof vest.

Leatherwood said the documents don't offer any startling new revelations about the assassination, but do provide a detailed snapshot of a pivotal moment in the nation's civil rights history. Most were never seen by the public. Leatherwood tried for about three years to make them available, and the county attorney approved their release six weeks ago, he told The Associated Press.

Then-Shelby County Sheriff Bill Morris had the photos taken to document that Ray wasn't being mistreated when he was booked into the jail for the April 4, 1968, shooting death of King in Memphis. Ray was arrested about two months after the shooting.

Ray died in prison in 1998, but he had signed a document authorizing their release in the late 1970s, Leatherwood said.

"I hope they rekindle the memory of the civil rights movement," Leatherwood told the AP. "A lot of the memories of the civil rights movement are being lost or people are taking the civil rights movement for granted. People did sacrifice their lives to that movement.

"Of course, Dr. King is the perfect example of that," Leatherwood said.

The photos were taken by Memphis photographer Gil Michael, who was an employee of Memphis State University at the time. One picture showing Morris escorting Ray into the jail was given to the news media. The other photos were sealed, and the sheriff's office kept the negatives.

Letters Ray wrote to his lawyers and family from the Shelby County Jail, where he spent eight months before pleading guilty, also were part of the newly-seen documents. So are investigators' notes; a hand-drawn map of the Lorraine Motel where King was killed; and an article from Reader's Digest entitled "Greatest Manhunt in Law Enforcement History."

The archive also includes photos of Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. They were acquired by Morris in 1968 as he researched security techniques.

Morris said he didn't want Ray killed while he was sheriff.

"On April the 4th, 1968, our whole culture of life in Memphis changed," Morris told the newspaper. "Everything changed."

Source: Yahoo

President Obama get locked out

US launches military action against Libya

President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.

Obama said military action was not his first choice.

"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."

A senior military official said the U.S. launched air defenses Saturday with strikes along the Libyan coast that were launched by Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official said the assault would unfold in stages and target air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital, and a coastal area south of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

Obama declared once again that the United States would not send ground forces to Libya, though he said he is "deeply aware" of the risks of taking any military action.

Earlier in the day, Obama warned that the international community was prepared to act with urgency.

"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency," Obama said.

Top officials from the U.S., Europe and the Arab world meeting in Paris, where they announced Saturday immediate military action to protect civilians caught in combat between Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters. American ships and aircraft were poised for action but weren't participating in the initial French air missions.

As the military action was announced, French fighter jets swooped over Benghazi, the opposition stronghold that was stormed by Libyan government forces earlier Saturday, in defiance of a proclaimed ceasefire.

France, Britain and the United States had warned Gadhafi Friday that they would resort to military means if he ignored the U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire.

The United States has a host of forces and ships in the area, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships.

The U.S. intended to limit its involvement — at least in the initial stages — to helping protect French and other air missions by taking out Libyan air defenses, but depending on the response could launch additional attacks in support of allied forces, a U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.

Source: Yahoo - AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report from Washington

Rare photos of Hitler's wife

Adolf Hitler is one of the darkest figures of the 20th century. But less is known about his girlfriend, Eva Braun, who he kept secret from Nazi Germany for years.

Pictures of the girlfriend and then wife have recently surfaced through Life Magazine, brought to light through collector and curator Reinhard Schulz.

The cache of photos from the young model's personal album was confiscated in 1945 by the American army. The newly released pictures have caused searches on the Web for "eva braun" to rise over 300% in one day.

So who was the woman by Hitler's side? Young Eva first met Hitler in 1929 when he was a rising star in the Nazi party. He was introduced to the 17-year-old as Herr Wolff, while she modeled for the official Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffmann in Munich.

The Bavarian became Hitler's companion, despite being kept hidden from the public and often left alone. A depressive, she attempted suicide twice, but still remained loyal to Hitler to the end.

After learning about the failed plot to kill Hitler, Braun wrote him, "From our first meeting I swore to follow you anywhere even unto death. I live only for your love."

In the last days of the war, just before they ended their lives, she became his wife. Braun committed suicide with Hitler at the age of 33.

The unearthed photos show a woman frolicking in the Bavarian Alps with some of the most infamous characters of the Third Reich. One of the images from the Life slideshow that is making waves shows Braun in blackface, dressed up apparently as American actor Al Jolson, who starred in the 1927 movie "The Jazz Singer."

Maybe not surprisingly, the photos of Hitler's longtime companion do not cast her in the most positive light. As the Daily Telegraph put it, "Miss Braun appears as a rather vain and frivolous character."

Source: Yahoo

UK, Germany fly secret missions into Libya

BERLIN – British and German military planes swooped into Libya's desert, rescuing hundreds of oil workers and civilians stranded at remote sites, as thousands of other foreigners are still stuck in Tripoli by bad weather and red tape.

The secret military missions into the turbulent North Africa country signal the readiness of Western nations to disregard Libya's territorial integrity when it comes to the safety of their citizens.

Three British Royal Air Force planes plucked 150 stranded civilians from multiple locations in the eastern Libyan desert before flying them to Malta on Sunday, the British Defense Ministry said in a statement. One of the RAF Hercules aircraft appeared to have suffered minor damage from small arms fire, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said.

The rescue follows a similar secret commando raid Saturday by British Special Forces that got another 150 oil workers from the remote Libyan desert.

Separately, Germany said its air force had evacuated 132 people also from the desert during a secret military mission on Saturday.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Sunday that two German military planes landed on a private runway belonging to the Wintershall AG company, evacuating 22 Germans and 112 others and flying them to the Greek island of Crete.

Another 18 German citizens were rescued by the British military in a separate military operation Saturday that targeted remote oil installations in the Libyan desert, Westerwelle said. He said around 100 other German citizens are still in Libya and the government was trying to get them out as quickly as possible.

"I want to thank the members of the Germany military for their brave mission," Westerwelle said.

Source: Yahoo

UN Council slaps sanctions on Libya's Gadhafi

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council moved as a powerful bloc Saturday to try to halt Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's deadly crackdown on protesters, slapping sanctions on him, his children and top associates.

Voting 15-0 after daylong discussions interrupted with breaks to consult with capitals back home, the council imposed an arms embargo and urged U.N. member countries to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter. The council also backed a travel ban on the Gadhafi family and close associates, including leaders of the revolutionary committees accused of much of the violence against opponents.

Council members additionally agreed to refer the Gadhafi regime's deadly crackdown on people protesting his rule to a permanent war crimes tribunal for an investigation of possible crimes against humanity.

The council said its actions were aimed at "deploring the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators." And members expressed concern about civilian deaths, "rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated council members for the unified vote, saying it "sends a strong message that gross violations of basic human rights will not be tolerated."

"I hope the message is heard, and heeded, by the regime in Libya," Ban said.

Source: Yahoo