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America’s great outdoors Two years ago, President Obama set an ambitious goal: to attract 100 million international visitors to the United States each year by the end of 2021. Here’s where we are: More than 70 million travelers from around the world visited the U.S. in the last year alone — and they spent more than $180 billion. That’s huge, and it means big things for our economy. It’s part of the great news the President is sharing at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York today. And it’s one of the reasons he designated a new National Monument in New Mexico yesterday — permanently protecting nearly 500,000 acres as part of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. In honor of the occasion, the Department of the Interior took over our @WhiteHouse Instagram account yesterday to share some of their favorite photos of our great American outdoors.
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Tag Archives: Separation of church and state
A Disgraceful Attack On An American Hero
Some other things I’ve read this week: Ta-Nehisi Coates on reparations, Amanda Marcotte on conservatives and rape, Anna Holmes on her new job, Tim Wu on net neutrality, and Jared Bernstein on income inequality.
John Whitehouse
Twitter: @existentialfish
Benghazi And Trust
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) was an American hero before ever entering politics. She was one of the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq, where she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when her helicopter was hit by an RPG. But now that she is serving on the House Benghazi committee, Fox’s Allen West doesn’t know if Duckworth can be trusted: http://mm4a.org/1jxJKB9
Related: Fox News shamelessly misled about what Nancy Pelosi said about the House Benghazi committee: http://mm4a.org/1kq6Oli
James O’Keefe Latest Lies
James O’Keefe uses tricks and deceptive editing to create fake stories for right-wing media. The latest example involves fracking, and O’Keefe again used deceptive editing to make his point. But this time, another filmmaker secretly recorded O’Keefe’s operation – and caught him in a lie. http://mm4a.org/SlekDH
Related: Check out Green The Press, the new tumblr from our climate and science team: http://greenthepress.tumblr.com/
School Lunches For “Urban” Children
House Republicans are looking to cut school lunch programs — specifically for low-income kids in urban areas. This comes after years of conservative media, led by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, pushing Republicans to cut the programs: http://mm4a.org/1i4KysQ
Related: Fox’s newest host routinely attacks the poor – and he’s also been fined by the SEC and paid to push now worthless stocks: http://mm4a.org/1j61RJI
FEATURED VIDEO
The Roberts Court is poised to dismantle a key tool used to fight against gender and racial discrimination. We spoke to expert Paul Bland about that and consumer rights: http://mm4a.org/1hVhcx9
CONSERVATIVES ATTACK AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
It’s not just one attack on Tammy Duckworth. Conservatives simply do not understand disability in America. We created two charts to correct them – including our longest chart ever. http://mm4a.org/1k5sNi0
IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Former CNN Science Reporter And Neil deGrasse Tyson Call Out Media Enablers Of Climate Denial
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My dad will die in prison ~~
My dad was sentenced to die in prison for a non-violent drug charge. Please sign my petition asking President Obama to grant him clemency.
For the last 25 years, my entire life, my father has been behind bars serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Over the years I’ve cried myself to sleep many nights, knowing that I’ll never have my father in my life. My father’s name is Michael Palmer and between 1987 and 1989 he made the wrong decision to get involved in selling drugs. In 1989, ten days before I was born, he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and given a life sentence because he was painted as “a kingpin” — he was not. He was only 25 years old. Throughout my life I can honestly say I was embarrassed of my dad for selling drugs and ending up in prison. He left our family. But he is now 50 years old and not the same man he used to be. He was convicted along with four other men — three have been released and the other will be soon. The mandatory minimum sentencing laws that sent my father to prison for the rest of his life have since been reduced by Congress. Those laws created a 100:1 sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine and were based on assumptions about crack cocaine now known to be false. The impact of that disparity fell disproportionately on African-American families. My father committed a serious crime and deserved to be punished, but life without parole means he will die behind prison bars. After 25 years in prison, he has spent more of his life in prison than outside of it. He has paid his debt to society, been rehabilitated, and deserves to reunite with the grandchildren he has never met. He can only be free if President Obama grants him clemency. With your support, I believe that he will — just four months ago President Obama granted clemency to 8 non-violent crack-cocaine offenders. My dad is a good man who, even as a prisoner, has motivated me to be where I am at today. With his encouragement I graduated at the top twenty five percent of my class and I am now in medical school, soon to graduate in 2016. It’s time for my father to come home. Thank you, Taylor Palmer |
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Eye on the Amazon: Photos from #AntiChevron Day around the world
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What Happens When an Oil Company Actually Chooses to Be a Sociopath? You gotta give Chevron’s management credit for bringing people together – across oceans, continents, and borders. Not because the company is a good neighbor; quite the opposite. Communities on five continents who live where Chevron operated, operates, or seeks to operate, came together yesterday in a worldwide day of protest to denounce the oil giant’s environmental and human rights practices. |
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the Senate ~~ CONGRESS 5/23 ~~ the House
Any death is tragic and unacceptable but we need members of Congress to be the solution NOT a part of the problem and Republicans in their need to spew misinformation tend to go so far to the right they forget the People of the United States ! If the Benghazi hearings have to happen, the facts, comparisons and the knowledge of the ever present danger of being an Embassador must be told
Republicans seem to be on a train going back to a time that no one wants!
Separate and definitely NOT Equal
The Senate will convene at 2:00pm on Monday, June 2, 2014.
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:30pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider Executive Calendar #633, the nomination of Keith M. Harper, of Maryland, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council. There will be 2 minutes of debate prior a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Harper nomination.
During Thursday’s session of the Senate, cloture was filed on the following items in the order listed:
– Executive Calendar #633, Keith Harper, of Maryland, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council (up to 8 hours of post-cloture debate equally divided);
– Executive Calendar #755, Sharon Bowen, of New York, to be a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (up to 8 hours of post-cloture debate equally divided);
– Executive Calendar #691, Mark G. Mastroianni, of Massachusetts, to be United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts (up to 2 hours of post-cloture debate equally divided);
– Executive Calendar #692,Bruce Howe Hendricks, of South Carolina, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of South Carolina (up to 2 hours of post-cloture debate equally divided);
– Executive Calendar #733, Tanya S. Chutkan, of the District of Columbia, to be United States District Judge for the District of Columbia (up to 2 hours of post-cloture debate equally divided); and
– Executive Calendar #798, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, of West Virginia, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services (up to 30 hours of post-cloture debate).
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Last Floor Action:5/22
2:43:15 P.M. – The House adjourned pursuant to a previous special order.
The next meeting is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on May 23, 2014.
| 3:00:33 P.M. | The House convened, starting a new legislative day. | |
| 3:00:38 P.M. | The Speaker designated the Honorable Thomas E. Petri to act as Speaker pro tempore for today. | |
| 3:00:58 P.M. | Today’s prayer was offered by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, Ohev Sholom: The National Synagogue, Washington, DC. | |
| 3:02:39 P.M. | The Speaker announced approval of the Journal. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved. | |
| 3:02:43 P.M. | PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – The Chair led the House in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. | |
| 3:03:01 P.M. | <action_description>The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to the permission granted in Clause 2(h) of Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk notified the House that she had received a message from the Secretary of the Senate on May 23, 2014, at 11:09 a.m., stating that that body had passed H.R. 316 with an amendment, S. 2198, H.R. 724, H.R. 862, H.R. 4032, H.R. 1726, and H.R. 4488. The Senate also agreed to S. Con. Res. 36. | |
| 3:03:14 P.M. | <action_description>The Speaker announced that the House do now adjourn pursuant to a previous special order. The next meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on May 27, 2014. |
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Be a Seed for Change 
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