Obama Gun Photo Released Amid Call For Stronger Regulations

A photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at Camp David has been released following a claim last week that he engages in the activity regularly.

It is the only known photo of Obama with a gun, and also comes amid a White House-backed push for stronger gun control regulations in the U.S.

The photo shows Obama targeting clay pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, which he said he does "all the time" during stays at the compound.

The comment, in an interview last Sunday, was a response to a question of whether he had ever held a firearm. Obama told the New Republic:

"Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations."

"And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake."

Given the current political atmosphere and polarizing gun control debate, some questioned whether the claim was an embellishment or even true at all.

Politicians who use firearms often advertise that fact to gun owners, but in four years in office and two national campaigns, Obama has never brought it up.

"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this?" asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "Why has he not referenced it at any point [during this] gun debate?"

"Why have we not seen photos?"

Asked about the president's interview, Press Secretary Jay Carney responded "I would refer you simply to his comments," he said. "I don't know how often."

Carney noted that when Obama travels to "Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs."

Some Obama supporters have already brushed off critics as "skeeters," a play on the "birthers" like Donald Trump who doubted he was a U.S. citizen.

"Attn skeet birthers. Make our day - let the photoshop conspiracies begin!" senior adviser and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe wrote on Twitter.

Conspiracy or not, and no matter how curiously timed the photo's release may be, what can't be refuted is the President's commitment to reform.

Obama signed several executive orders strengthening regulations of guns and revealed proposals to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

The gun control push began in response to the December mass-shooting of 20 first graders and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

What do you think? Do you support tougher gun laws?

via thehollywoodgossip.com

Obama Gun Photo Released Amid Call For Stronger Regulations

A photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at Camp David has been released following a claim last week that he engages in the activity regularly.

It is the only known photo of Obama with a gun, and also comes amid a White House-backed push for stronger gun control regulations in the U.S.

The photo shows Obama targeting clay pigeons at the presidential retreat last August, which he said he does "all the time" during stays at the compound.

The comment, in an interview last Sunday, was a response to a question of whether he had ever held a firearm. Obama told the New Republic:

"Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations."

"And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake."

Given the current political atmosphere and polarizing gun control debate, some questioned whether the claim was an embellishment or even true at all.

Politicians who use firearms often advertise that fact to gun owners, but in four years in office and two national campaigns, Obama has never brought it up.

"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this?" asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "Why has he not referenced it at any point [during this] gun debate?"

"Why have we not seen photos?"

Asked about the president's interview, Press Secretary Jay Carney responded "I would refer you simply to his comments," he said. "I don't know how often."

Carney noted that when Obama travels to "Camp David, he goes to spend time with his family and friends and relax, not to produce photographs."

Some Obama supporters have already brushed off critics as "skeeters," a play on the "birthers" like Donald Trump who doubted he was a U.S. citizen.

"Attn skeet birthers. Make our day - let the photoshop conspiracies begin!" senior adviser and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe wrote on Twitter.

Conspiracy or not, and no matter how curiously timed the photo's release may be, what can't be refuted is the President's commitment to reform.

Obama signed several executive orders strengthening regulations of guns and revealed proposals to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

The gun control push began in response to the December mass-shooting of 20 first graders and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

What do you think? Do you support tougher gun laws?

via thehollywoodgossip.com

Obama Lays Out Immigration Plan, But Avoids Thorny Issues : It's All Politics

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President Obama's speech in Las Vegas on Tuesday on the country's immigration system was as notable for what was said as what wasn't.

Isaac Brekken/AP

President Obama's speech in Las Vegas on Tuesday on the country's immigration system was as notable for what was said as what wasn't.

Isaac Brekken/AP

President Obama's highly anticipated speech Tuesday outlining his blueprint for an overhaul of the nation's immigration system was perhaps most notable for the big issues left unaddressed.

Rather than wade into thorny territory, and potentially derail the bipartisan momentum in the Senate, the president struck an optimistic, populist tone as framer-in-chief.

"The good news is for the first time in many years, Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together," Obama said in Las Vegas. "The question is do we have the resolve as a people, as a country, as a government, to finally put this issue behind us? I believe that we do."

Obama was clear in calling for a route to citizenship for the more than 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. That question is expected to be the most contentious in the legislative fight looming in Congress.

Otherwise, it's precisely the message that many people on both sides of the issue had expected to hear.

"How could he encourage the bipartisan process without becoming a hostage to it?" says Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a pro-immigrant group. "He faced a pretty difficult tactical decision on whether he was going to introduce his own bill or stay back and respect the legislative process. I thought he did a pretty good job."

The president endorsed the proposals unveiled Monday by a bipartisan group of senators that included a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. He also joined the senators in calling for strengthened border security, a mandatory system for verifying workers' immigration status and "bringing our legal immigration system into the 21st Century" with streamlined processes to handle future flows of newcomers.

Obama did warn lawmakers, however, that he'd "send up my own proposal and insist that they vote on it right away" if they steer negotiations on a bill into partisan gridlock.

Before Obama's speech, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida took to the chamber floor and urged the president not to go beyond endorsing the principles outlined by the group of bipartisan senators:

"We have now a very common sense and reasonable set of principles, and I hope what the president will say today is that he hopes that that process succeeds. But if his intentions are to trigger a bidding war to see who can come up with the easiest process, this is not a good start."

Some of the issues Obama avoided will figure prominently in lawmakers' deliberations, such as the sensitive question about the length of time those in the country illegally could be forced to wait before applying for citizenship.

"Of course I wanted more. We want to hear, for those of us who have been working so hard for long, time frames, specifics of the legislation, exactly how we're going to get at citizenship," says Kica Matos, a spokeswoman for the pro-immigrant group Fair Immigration Reform Movement. "But we're certainly heartened that the speech happened in the first place and that the president finally, in a very public way, is taking this on."

Another matter Obama sidestepped is a proposal offered by the senators that U.S. borders be secured before illegal immigrants can seek green cards. The proposal is favored by Republicans in Congress, but is a major concern among pro-immigrant groups.

Tying green-card eligibility to border security isn't part of Obama's own plan, a distinction that Rubio later criticized in a statement reacting to the president's speech.

Critics also noted the president's decision to omit from his speech a provision in his plan to allow a foreign partner in a same-sex relationship to apply for the green card. The Senate plan doesn't include the provision. (At present, only married opposite-sex partners can sponsor a spouse for a green card.)

"That would be a poison pill that would guarantee the whole thing would collapse," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for limited immigration and stricter enforcement. "How could the Catholic Church and evangelical groups support that?"

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a statement, praised Obama's speech as "courageous." Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he has scheduled the chamber's first hearing on immigration for Feb. 13, a day after Obama's State of the Union address.

The Judiciary panel oversees the subcommittee charged with drafting immigration legislation.

via npr.org

Stephen Cohen: As Obama Starts Second Term, His Russian 'Reset' Is Dead

Political tensions with Russia have escalated sharply since the passage of the Magnitsky Act and of Russian legislation barring Americans from adopting Russian children. These latest developments, however, are symptomatic of a greater American failure to work effectively with Russia that started under Bill Clinton and continued under George W. Bush and Obama, Stephen Cohen argued on the latest episode of Suzi Weissman's show on Los Angeles radio station KPFK. 

Cohen also discussed the ongoing student occupation of a Moscow university, an important development that the American media has neglected to cover. Listen to the full audio for more.

—Alec Luhn

Are the US and Russia in the midst of a new Cold War? Read Cohen's criticism of the Magnitsky Act on TheNation.com, as well as Katrina vanden Heuvel's take on Dima's Law, which bans American adoptions of Russian children.

via thenation.com

Obama Has 13 Million Fake Twitter Followers

 

 

President Obama has nearly 19 million Twitter followers, but 70%, or approximately 13 million of them, are fake, according to a new analysis.

Mitt Romney’s Twitter account, meanwhile, has less than 900,000 followers, but only 15% of them, or about 135,000, are fakes.

The numbers come from Fake Follower Check, a tool from social media firm StatusPeople that analyzes any Twitter account’s followers and checks for telltale signs of fake followers.

“Fake accounts tend to follow a lot of people but have few followers,” Rob Waller, founder of StatusPeople, told the New York Times in a story about buying and selling Twitter followers. “We then combine that with a few other metrics to confirm the account is fake.”

Analysis of other popular Twitter accounts done using StatusPeople’s tools seems to indicate that the more popular a Twitter account is, the more likely it is that the account will have fake followers — possibly thanks to the work of Internet spammers.

 

SEE ALSO: Facebook Has 44% Fake Followers; Twitter Has 33%

 

Fake Twitter followers can be purchased on dozens of websites offering the service for as little as $0.01 per follower. They are sometimes bought by Twitter account managers to give the illusion that a particular brand has more social reach than it actually does.

A sudden spike in Romney’s follower count last month caused speculation that someone was buying fake followers for the account. Both the Romney campaign and the Obama campaign have denied buying Twitter followers. Twitter could not be reached for comment on the matter.

Are you surprised that Obama might have so many fake followers?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, EdStock

via mashable.com

 

President Obama embraces gay marriage: Have his views really evolved?

 

President Obama endorsed gay marriage in an interview Wednesday. The president has described his views on gay marriage over the past few years as “evolving,” but many believe he was just waiting for public opinion to catch up with him. Can someone's moral principles really evolve?

Yes. While some of the growing national acceptance of gay marriage is the result of turnover—as  older, more socially conservative people die off—there has been a significant amount of mind-changing among members of the American public. Many sociologists believe that morality derives from intuition rather than reason, and our rational explanations for moral positions are simply post hoc justifications. One of the primary movers of our intuitive sense of morality, the argument goes, is called the cohort effect. According to this theory, people shift their views so they match those of their peers. That doesn't explain why those peers changed their views—at some point, someone has to have changed opinions on his or her own—but the cohort effect does serve to accelerate a broad moral shift across society.

On an individual level, moral judgments are also driven by visceral feelings of repugnance. Social conservatives, for example, tend to find the thought of homosexual activity—or even the mere sight of a same-sex couple holding hands—somewhat disgusting. While it’s difficult to change one’s general proclivity for disgust, there is ample evidence that repeated exposure to a particular disgusting image can lessen its impact. Medical students, for example, consider cadavers far less disgusting by the end of medical school, even though they find the smell of urine or the idea of accidentally drinking a stranger’s soda as disgusting as ever. The same scenario can also play out in societal attitudes toward homosexuality. Increased exposure may have lessened the negative responses to it, and, as the sense of revulsion fades, so does opposition to gay marriage. In this sense, evolution is a reasonable metaphor for the process by which opponents of gay marriage have adapted to a changing environment.

Vice President Biden took some stick for his statement on Sunday’s Meet the Press that “Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public [about homosexuality] than almost anything anybody's ever done so far.” There is research, however, to suggest the VP is right about the influence of television. Economists Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that access to cable television significantly changed the social views of Indian villagers. Those who could watch the newest shows, with their cosmopolitan mores, became more opposed to domestic violence, less likely to prefer sons over daughters, and more likely to enroll their children (especially girls) in school. Cable-watchers also had fewer children, on average.

Despite this research on the roles of disgust and passive television watching, it’s important to keep in mind that the application of reason does play into the development of individual morality. People sometimes change their mind as a result of simple rational persuasion, even if it’s difficult for sociologists to study.

Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Paul Bloom of Yale University and author of the forthcoming book Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, Jonathan Haidt of the NYU-Stern School of Business and author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, and David Pizarro of Cornell University.

Obama Appeals Health Care Setback To High Court

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September 28, 2011

Raising prospects for a major election-year ruling, the Obama administration launched its Supreme Court defense of its landmark health care overhaul Wednesday, appealing what it called a "fundamentally flawed" appeals court decision that declared the law's central provision unconstitutional.

Destined from the start for a high court showdown, the health care law affecting virtually every American seems sure to figure prominently in President Obama's campaign for re-election next year. Republican contenders are already assailing it in virtually every debate and speech.

The administration formally appealed a ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta that struck down the law's core requirement that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty beginning in 2014.

At the same time, however, the winners in that appellate case, 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business, also asked for high court review Wednesday, saying the entire law, and not just the individual insurance mandate, should be struck down.

The Supreme Court almost always weighs in when a lower court has struck down all or part of a federal law, to say nothing of one that aims to extend insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans.

The bigger question had been the timing. The administration's filing makes it more likely that the case will be heard and decided in the term that begins next week.

Repeating arguments it has made in courts across the country in response to many challenges to the law, the administration said Congress was well within its constitutional power to enact the insurance requirement.

Disagreeing with that, the 26 states and business group said in their filings that the justices should act before the 2012 presidential election because of uncertainty over costs and requirements.

On the issue of timing, their cause got an unexpected boost from retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who said voters would be better off if they knew the law's fate law before casting their ballots next year.

The 91-year-old Stevens said in an Associated Press interview that the justices would not shy away from deciding the case in the middle of a presidential campaign and would be doing the country a service.

"It would be better to have that known about than be speculated as a part of the political argument," Stevens said in his Supreme Court office overlooking the Capitol.

Though the Atlanta appeals court struck down the individual insurance requirement, it upheld the rest of the law. The states and the business group say that would still impose huge new costs.

In another challenge to the same law, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati sided with the administration.

The law would extend health coverage mainly through subsidies to purchase private insurance and an expansion of Medicaid. The states object to the Medicaid expansion and a provision forcing them to cover their employees' health care at a level set by the government.

The individual insurance mandate "indisputably served as the centerpiece of the delicate compromise that produced" the law, according to the states, with Florida taking the lead.

The administration said in the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the law's changes in the insurance market, including requiring insurers to cover people without regard for pre-existing health conditions, would not work without the participation mandate.

The insurance requirement is intended to force healthier people who might otherwise forgo insurance into the pool of insured, helping to reduce private insurers' financial risk.

Both appeals stressed the importance of resolving the overhaul's constitutionality as soon as possible, which under normal court procedures would be by June 2012.

While a decision in that time frame would come in the midst of a heated presidential campaign, the NFIB said it is more important to resolve uncertainty about costs and requirements than drag out consideration into 2013 or beyond.

"When you talk to our members and other small-business owners about what is the biggest problem they're facing, they say uncertainty," said Karen Harned, executive director of the NFIB's legal division. "When you ask what, one of first answers is the health care law."

Stevens, who retired last year, said his former colleagues would not be affected by the potential impact of their decision on Obama's re-election chances.

"They'll decide it on the law. I'm totally convinced of that," he said.

Obama appointed Stevens' successor, Elena Kagan.

Stevens said that if he still had a vote on the court on timing, he would cast it in favor of hearing the case sooner rather than later. He would not say how he would vote on the issue of the law's constitutionality, although he said the court's 6-3 decision in a 2005 case involving medical marijuana seems to lend support to the administration's defense of the law.

Stevens wrote the opinion that held that the Constitution allows federal regulation of homegrown marijuana as interstate commerce. A central dispute in the health care case is over Congress's power under the Constitution's commerce clause to mandate the purchase of health insurance.

In addition to the competing rulings on the law's validity, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled that it was premature to decide the law's constitutionality. Citing a federal law aimed at preventing lawsuits from tying up tax collection, that court held that a definitive ruling could come only after taxpayers begin paying the penalty for not purchasing insurance.

The administration suggested that the Supreme Court should consider that issue because of the appellate ruling.

The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., also heard arguments in yet another lawsuit against the overhaul last week. That court has no timetable for its decision.

The other states aligned with Florida are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

via npr.org

Lady GaGa Not Toning Down at Obama Fundraiser Event

Although she came to meet with the President of the United States

, Lady GaGa stays true to her outrageous style. According to the White House pool report, the "Born This Way" hitmaker didn't tone down a bit when she attended the Silicon Valley fundraiser for President Barack Obama on Sunday (September 25) night.

Coming to the political event, the 25-year-old opted to go with a floor-length sleeveless lacey black dress and a pair of sky-high heels. She set her hair "in a bouffant up-do adorned with a black hair piece with a black veil down the back". At the event, she took a seat at the middle table under a tent in the yard of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.

GaGa came to the $35,800-a-person gathering as a paying guest. The "You and I" singer made public her intention to meet with Obama back on Twitter sometime last week after a teen took his life due to bullying. It is still unclear whether GaGa managed to have a discussion with the President.

"Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime," tweeted the Mother Monster, who paid tribute to the late teen at iHeartRadio music festival on Saturday, September 24. "I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end. Our generation has the power to end it."

 

© AceShowbiz.com

Gallup: Obama job rating sinks below 40% for first time

via latimes.com

President Obama's summer woes have dragged his approval rating to an all-time low, sinking below 40% for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll.

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Obama's approval rating has hovered in the 40% range for much of 2011, peaking at 53% in the weeks following the death of Osama bin Laden.

But Americans' view of his job performance continued to tick downward as the debt-ceiling debate heated up. By the time he signed legislation averting a federal default, he was mired in the low-40% range.

The polling setback comes as the Republican race to unseat him has kicked into overdrive. The past week has been dominated by the activity in Iowa ahead of the Ames Straw Poll, and the entrance of a new contender in Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The candidates have routinely assailed Obama's leadership in appealing to conservative activists who dominate this stage of the nominating contest.

Obama is set to launch something of a counter-offensive on Monday with a three-day bus tour of the Midwest, a trip that includes two stops in Iowa. The White House denied that the itinerary was politically motivated, however.

Harvey Weinstein and Anna Wintour plan $71,600-a-couple fundraiser for President Obama at his West Village home next Thursday

via nypost.com

A high-powered, intimate, $71,600-a-couple fund-raiser for President Obama hosted by Anna Wintour and Harvey Weinstein will be held at the movie mogul's New York home next week.
The expensive affair -- billed on an invitation obtained by Page Six as a "small dinner and discussion" -- is planned to bring together heavy-hitters from the worlds of fashion, movies and finance at the West Village home of Weinstein and his fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, on Thursday. It had been scheduled for July 18 but was postponed because of the debt ceiling debate
A source told Page Six the exclusive event has been sold out and raised over $2 million. Among those confirmed to attend are Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin, Lyor Cohen, Tory Burch, Alicia Keys and Quentin Tarantino.
Madonna was also invited, but won't make it Thursday due to "a personal commitment," said her rep.
Last summer, Wintour threw an Obama fund-raiser at her Greenwich Village home for 50 guests, at $30,400 per head, which drew Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Andrew Rosen and Andre Balazs. The Vogue editor-in-chief is expected to draw some of the same crowd.
"Anna calls, they come running," said a source. "The fashion people have to contribute" -- which they apparently did despite the market being in free fall this week.
Donors at Weinstein and Wintour's shindig will be forking over $5,000 to the Obama Victory Fund with the rest going to the Democratic National Committee. Another source said the event would be limited to "four tables," giving each high-paying guest some quality time with the president.
An Obama official told us: "The president will travel to New York on Aug. 11 for a fund-raising event. This event was rescheduled from a previously postponed trip earlier in the summer." Reps for Weinstein and Wintour didn't get back to us.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/harvey_hosts_money_meal_VhI39ZLE7ST1wXoHLmtWQ...

President Obama Is Very Unpopular Right Now

President Obama's approval rating in Gallup's three-day rolling average has fallen to 40%, an all-time low for him. The American public can stomach many things, but interrupting The Bachelorette is not one of them.

via gawker.com

Obamas and Queen embassy banquet

via hellomagazine.com

Michelle reminds Britain why she's the first lady of cool
Since Michelle Obama captured the public imagination during her husband's presidential campaign, other powerful personalities - such as Lady Gaga and the Duchess of Cambridge - have come along.
Yet, the US first lady continues to fascinate us as the ultimate icon for the modern woman.
Wednesday was a case in point when she sashayed between serving up chow at a barbecue for military families,hugging schoolgirls and mingling with royalty - all the while looking utterly at ease and delighted to be in each setting.
Michelle radiated her characteristic warmth as she welcomed the Queen to a gala thanking her for Tuesday's glittering banquet at Buckingham Palace.
In an off the shoulder Ralph Lauren column dress that made the most of her statuesque, gym-honed figure, she looked stunning too.
Her royal guest, meanwhile, cut a typically regal figure, in an evening gown that shimmered with gold and silver sequins.
An unusual knotted diamond necklace, featuring emerald drop pendants and matching earrings, topped off the dazzling effect.
Inside, lavish entertainment awaited than 50 guests, including actors Tom Hanks and Colin Firth, David Beckham and author JK Rowling.