****
10:30: President Obama holds a bilateral meeting with President Karzai of Afghanistan
12:0: Meets for lunch with President Karzai; VP Biden also attends
1:15: President Obama and President Karzai hold a joint press conference
2:15: VP Biden will meet with representatives from the video game industry
****
****
LA Times: Requiring all gun buyers to pass a federal background check could be a key part of a White House plan to combat mass shootings, Vice President Joe Biden indicated as he prepared to present recommendations to the president on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Biden said he had found a “surprising recurrence of suggestions” for “universal background checks” in meetings with interest groups. Background checks are not required in private sales by unlicensed dealers, including transactions at gun shows.
Biden is expected to propose measures that President Obama could institute by executive action, as well as proposed laws, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
The quick movement to roll out potential remedies to mitigate gun violence — ahead of schedule and just days before Obama and Biden are sworn into a second term — is a signal of the urgency the White House aims to project in developing a response to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting…..
Full article here
****
****
Jonathan Capehart: Controversy over an anti-gay sermon by Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta forced him to withdraw his acceptance of the invitation to deliver the benediction at the presidential inaugural. Good. President Obama should not have to share the stage with him.
Obama is the most pro-gay person to occupy the Oval Office. He ended the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. His administration has stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court. He has expressed his personal support for marriage equality. And in pronouncement and policy, the president and his administration have made bringing dignity, equity and fairness to gay people and their families a priority.
That’s why it boggled the mind that the Presidential Inaugural Committee would force Obama to share the stage with Giglio….
More here
****
****
In case you missed this yesterday:
Emily L. Hauser: What feminism isn’t about: Cabinet headcounts.
… as I have noted on several occasions, President Obama has spent his Presidency expressing his dedication to feminist values. Over and over and over (and over and over) again, he has done the work and forwarded the ideas necessary to actually change the reality in which women and girls live, to not pay lip service to our humanity but to acknowledge and act on it.
…. In word and deed, in promise and in policy, my President has demonstrated his feminism time and again, making the country in which I live and in which my daughter is coming of age a better, more perfect union. And that is much, much more important to me than an Oval Office headcount.
Read the full post here
****
****
US Magazine: President Barack Obama’s second inauguration is shaping up to be one of the hottest tickets of the year.
Two days after the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced that Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, and James Taylor would perform at the official ceremony …. several other celebs have been added to the weekend’s star-studded lineup.
The committee announced Friday, Jan. 11, that Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley, Katy Perry, John Legend, fun, Stevie Wonder, and Usher would be among those on hand at the Kids’ Inaugural Concert on Saturday, Jan. 19, and at the official Inaugural balls on Monday, Jan. 21. Marc Anthony, Nick Cannon, Smokey Robinson, and members of the cast of Glee are also expected to make appearances.
More here
****
MoooOOoooorning everyone
White House.gov