The Obama Diary

President Barack Obama talks with Members of Congress after signing the Fair Sentencing Act in the Oval Office, Aug. 3, 2010. Participants include, from left, Attorney General Eric Holder, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC. Photo by Pete Souza

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All Times Eastern

10:00AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

11:10AM: President Obama delivers remarks at the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Mandela Washington Fellowship Presidential Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel

12:30PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest

2:15PM: President Obama delivers remarks on the Clean Power Plan in the East Room

5:20PM: President Obama participates in an Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony in the Oval Office

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"Join us. We can do this. It’s time for America, and the world, to #ActOnClimate change." —@POTUS #CleanPowerPlan snpy.tv/1STbXjG

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 02, 2025

.@POTUS I'm proud of you! Let's do this! #ActOnClimate The biggest step we've ever taken whosay.com/l/bkTaS90 http://t.co/FNpQC5xCym

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Piper Perabo (@PiperPerabo) August 02, 2025

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Timothy Cama: Obama Doubles Down On Historic Climate Rule For Power Plants

The Obama administration on Sunday unveiled a tougher climate change rule for power plants, demanding that generators cut their carbon dioxide output 32 percent in the first ever limits on the pollutant. The historic regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the main pillar of President Obama’s climate agenda. It is the biggest piece of his drive to create a legacy and go down in history as the first United States president to take comprehensive action against climate change by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

The EPA is asking states to formulate plans to reach specific carbon reduction goals assigned to them by 2030, from a 2005 starting point, adding up to a 32 percent reduction nationwide. If the states do not submit plans — as multiple conservative states have threatened — the EPA will write and impose its own strategies upon them. The administration estimates that the climate benefits, in addition to benefits from reducing other pollutants from power plants, would result in a net $46 billion benefit to the nation by 2030, along with thousands of avoided premature deaths and asthma attacks.

More here

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U.S. Democrats see 'fire wall' holding to preserve Iran deal reut.rs/1DjwLPK

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Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 02, 2025

Devastating and sad: Israel demolished blind educator's home washingtonpost.com/opinions/israe…

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Laura Rozen (@lrozen) August 02, 2025

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Patricia Zengerle: U.S. Democrats See ‘Fire Wall’ Holding To Preserve Iran Deal

U.S. backers of the Iran nuclear deal are increasingly confident of enough Democratic support to ensure it survives review by Congress, despite fierce opposition by majority Republicans and a massive lobbying drive. By the time the House of Representatives recessed for the summer last week, no senior Democrat in the chamber had come out formally against the agreement and several central figures, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, were strongly in favor.

Pelosi said she was confident that if, as expected, Republicans pass a “resolution of disapproval” to try to sink the deal, a promised veto of that measure by President Barack Obama would be sustained. At least 44 Democrats in the House and 13 Democrats in the Senate would have to defy Obama and join Republicans in opposing the deal to get the two-thirds majorities in both chambers needed to override a veto. “More and more of them (House Democrats) have confirmed to me that they will be there to sustain the veto,” Pelosi told reporters.

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Black students in U.S. get criminalized while white students get treatment m.huffpost.com/us/entry/55b67… via @blackvoices http://t.co/NeKXYiPCf7

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White House Af-Am Ed (@AfAmEducation) July 29, 2025

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Rebecca Klein: Black Students In The U.S. Get Criminalized While White Students Get Treatment

When black and white kids act up or display troubling behavior at schools, teachers and administrators often address it with differing responses split along racial lines, new research shows. Black students are more likely to be punished with suspensions, expulsions or referrals to law enforcement, a phenomenon that helps funnel kids into the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, white kids are more likely to be pushed into special education services or receive medical and psychological treatment for their perceived misbehaviors, according to a study released last week in the journal Sociology of Education.

Overall, this pattern often leads to the criminalization of young black students and the medicalization of white students. The study, conducted by Pennsylvania State University assistant professor of sociology and criminology David Ramey, analyzed the rates of suspensions, expulsions and police referrals at 59,000 schools across the country. He also looked at how many students in these schools were enrolled in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, two programs designed to help kids in need of special services. Ramey found that schools with larger populations of black students also had higher rates of suspensions, while schools with more white students had a greater number of kids in programs designed for students with special needs.

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White progressives need to learn how to actively combat racism, including their own racism. bit.ly/1D8QHVl http://t.co/sA46DS9KmT

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American Prospect (@theprospect) July 31, 2025

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Adele Stan: The Progressive Movement Has A Race Problem

We want a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street without worrying about being falsely arrested, beaten, or killed,” Bernie Sanders told some 8,000 supporters in Dallas on July 19, the day after his contentious encounter with protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement at Netroots Nation. While Sanders, the socialist U.S. senator from Vermont who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, appeared to have learned his lesson quickly, the same cannot necessarily be said for some of his most ardent followers, or for the progressive movement more broadly, where power rests primarily in the hands of white men.

But if Sanders is a standard-bearer for the progressive movement, then his lack of resonance among black voters is a problem not just for the senator’s campaign, but for the movement itself. Among the most daunting obstacles to racial equality is the white liberal who thinks he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. Because we all do. This is America, after all, where we all have brains peppered since birth with racial stereotypes and tropes. Denying that won’t cure the ill; transcendence is the real medicine. Transcending beliefs virtually etched in one’s DNA requires sustained and conscious effort. It’s uncomfortable. It meets with resistance from within and without. But until white progressives are willing to take a cold, hard look at why our movement is viewed with suspicion by those who feel shut out, a truly progressive future will be a promise unfulfilled.

More here

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Nigerian army: Troops rescue 178 captives, most children, destroy 8 Boko Haram camps: apne.ws/1MFaJJa

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The Associated Press (@AP) August 03, 2025

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President Barack Obama waits with Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of Kuwait, outside the Oval Office, as they were about to walk to the State Dining Room on Aug. 3, 2009. Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama has lunch at Good Stuff Eatery in Washington, D.C., with staff members who worked on the debt negotiations, Aug. 3, 2011. From left are: Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew; National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling; Rob Nabors, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs; and Bruce Reed, Chief of Staff to the Vice President. Photo by Pete Souza