Ashley Alman: A Boy Who Asked Obama About Stem Cell Research In 2007 Writes To Say It Saved His Life
A young cancer survivor sent President Barack Obama a moving letter thanking him for keeping a promise made during a 2007 campaign stop — a promise the boy says saved his life. Gavin Nore, a teen from Fort Dodge, Iowa, told Obama in a letter shared by the White House Tuesday that he’d had the opportunity to meet the president during his first presidential campaign.
At the time, Nore asked Obama whether he’d continue stem cell research during his presidency, to which the president responded he would. In February 2013, Nore was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 14 years old. Nore said he was “cancer free” by that summer, but was later re-diagnosed. “I had to have a stem cell transplant. I beat the battle once again,” Nore wrote to the president. “I would like to thank you very much for continuing the research. If the research haden’t [sic] continued, I wouldn’t be here today.”
President Barack Obama speaks at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., about the fight against Ebola. The president is highlighting advances in research for an Ebola vaccine and pushing Congress to approve his request for $6.2 billion to confront the disease abroad and to secure against its spread in the United States
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President Barack Obama tours the Vaccine Research Center with Dr. Nancy Sullivan, U.S. Secretary of HHS Sylvia Burwell, and Dr. Anthony Fauci to talk about Ebola, during a visit to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland
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"I’m calling on Congress to approve our emergency funding request to fight this disease." —President Obama #Ebola http://t.co/waIFFNyACz
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 02, 2025
"The American people have sent Washington a pretty clear message: Find areas where you agree…work together and get the job done." —Obama
President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia. President Barack Obama envisions a time when cars will be able to talk with other cars or with America’s roads. He says such technology could prevent crashes, cut down on traffic and save gasoline.
President Barack Obama is given a tour of vehicles equipted with V2I technology by Joe Peters while at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia
President Barack Obama looks over his shoulder while driving a simulator
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It's time for Congress to reauthorize funding to rebuild our roads & bridges: go.wh.gov/4czkeK #RebuildAmerica http://t.co/BYaPeRZiTB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 14, 2025
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“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Republicans, Democrats, Independents; everybody uses our roads.” —Obama http://t.co/KUdTPapwr9
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 15, 2025
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David Yang, human factors team leader, shows President Barack Obama a vehicle simulator during his tour of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
President Barack Obama is given a tour of the Saxton Transportation Operations
President Barack Obama greets employees after speaking about the economy at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
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"The American people have to demand that folks in Washington do their job. Do something. That’s my big motto for Congress." —President Obama
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 15, 2025
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Good infrastructure has a ripple effect:
Job creation ✓
Less road congestion ✓
More reliable travel times ✓ http://t.co/dhzBo2Whfp
— Vice President Biden (@VP) July 15, 2025
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx
President Barack Obama smiles as he is shown wooden art made using a laser etcher by James Gyre during his tour of TechShop, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. President Obama traveled to Pittsburgh and visited TechShop, a fabrication and prototyping studio open to the public via paid memberships, to deliver remarks on the economy
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President Barack Obama makes remarks after touring Bakery Square’s TechShop, a membership-based manufacturing workshop in Pittsburgh, that’s a model for the kind of sharing of resources he wants to see more of. The president announced a plan to open the doors of more than 700 federal labs across the country to give innovators access to more than $5 billion in equipment, research and resources to develop new technologies. Additionally, he outlined a $150 million investment in research to support the Materials Genome Investment, a public-private endeavor that aims to reduce the time it takes to develop new materials that can be used in advanced manufacturing
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FACT: More businesses are actively considering bringing production back from China to the U.S. #MadeInAmerica http://t.co/AQP06akS6S
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2025
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"Eisenhower worked with Democrats to build an Interstate Highway System. Research and development didn't used to be partisan." —Obama
— White House Live (@WHLive) June 17, 2025
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President Barack Obama is shown an example of a 3-D printer by Andy Leer
President Barack Obama speaks about the capture of Libyan militant suspected of killing Americans in Benghazi
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James O’Toole: President Obama Speaks In Pittsburgh About Technology
On a stop at Bakery Square’s TechShop in Larimer this afternoon, President Barack Obama announced a plan to give fledgling businesses expanded access to high-tech resources whether from the government or through wider sharing of private and university-based data and facilities. Administration officials said the access to expensive equipment and facilities is designed to lower the barriers to innovation. The president announced the initiative after a tour of TechShop, a membership-based manufacturing workshop that’s a model for the kind of sharing of resources he wants to promote. Coming the day after Mr. Obama announced an executive order to ban discrimination against members of the LGBT community in federal contracting, the innovation order was one more example of the administration’s efforts to pursue policy initiatives that don’t depend on action by Congress.
During his visit, the president also described new manufacturing investment commitments from 90 mayors cross the country, as well as a plan to provide private-sector innovators with access to expensive federal equipment such as wind tunnels at NASA and supercomputers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The plan would provide access to more than $5 billion worth of research, prototyping and testing equipment at more than 700 federal facilities. The president’s plan aims to give innovators – dubbed “makers” by the White House — access to equipment that no individual or small business could afford on its own, said Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council. “[We are] talking about using spare capacity when it’s available to give access to local makers and entrepreneurs,” he said. Mr. Zients said the president’s plan does not require legislative approval and has no cost to the federal government.
More here
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President Barack Obama points to a replica of the Presidential seal that Terry Sandin made during a tour of TechShop
President Barack Obama takes a drink as he listens to a question
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"We've got $2 trillion worth of deferred maintenance." —Obama on why Congress should invest in fixing our roads and bridges #RebuildAmerica
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2025
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"Our middle class was built in part because unions were able to negotiate weekends & overtime & benefits." —Obama http://t.co/toYHjPHecg
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2025
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President Barack Obama tours TechShop Pittsburgh with Matt Verlinich, General Manager of TechShop Pittsburgh
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"I want to make sure that if you work hard in this country…you can make it." —Obama on investing in American manufacturing #MadeInAmerica
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2025
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"I'm a big believer in our kids making stuff." —President Obama at @TechShop: wh.gov/maker-faire #NationOfMakers http://t.co/0V9s7lO70O
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 17, 2025
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with workers
President Barack Obama holds up a wooden snowflake made on a laser etcher
President Barack Obama responds to questions from workers
9:55: President Obama Speaks on the BRAIN Initiative
12:0: Open for Questions: Brain Initiative (WH live)
12:05: First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks at the “42” Film Workshop (WH live)
12:30: Jay Carney briefs the press
2:10: President Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore
5:35: President Obama hosts cast and crew members of the movie ’42’, a biographical film about Jackie Robinson, for a screening at the White House
8:45: Vice President Biden Speaks at the 2013 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards
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NYT: President Obama on Tuesday will announce a broad new research initiative, starting with $100 million in 2014, to invent and refine new technologies to understand the human brain….
A senior administration scientist compared the new initiative to the Human Genome Project, in that it is directed at a problem that has seemed insoluble up to now: the recording and mapping of brain circuits in action in an effort to “show how millions of brain cells interact.”
More here
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Washington Post: Gun-control measures that seemed destined to become law after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., are in jeopardy amid a fierce lobbying campaign by firearms advocates.
Despite months of negotiations, key senators have been unable to find a workable plan for near-universal background checks on gun purchases — an idea that polls show nine in 10 Americans support.
Another provision that garnered bipartisan support — making gun trafficking a federal crime — could be gutted if Republican lawmakers accept new language being circulated by the National Rifle Association.
More here
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Jonathan Capehart: Dana Milbank, like so many of my other fellow pundits, is placing blame on President Obama for the “congressional inertia” that has stymied advancement of proposals to stem gun violence. What more Obama could do than he’s already done is beyond me. One look at the House of Representatives and you know that anything he wants to do or is in favor of doing is dead on arrival over there.
…. Imagine how much could get done if Obama’s consistent calls for help from the American people on gun violence were backed up by a consistent flood of calls to congressional district and Capitol Hill offices. The president has done as much as he can possibly do. With the Senate set to consider anti-gun-violence bills next week, where’s his backup?
Full post here
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Greg Sargent: Every Senator who is refusing to support expanded background checks — Republican or Democrat — needs to be asked a simple question: Do you support the current background system, or do you see it as an infringement on the rights of the law-abiding?
Every one of them will answer with a Yes, because they are taking refuge behind the idea that the current law needs to be strengthened in various ways but not expanded. Once they are on record confirming they don’t view the current system as a threat to Constitutional rights, the arguments against expanding it dissolve into incoherence.
More here
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Steve Benen: There are 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus …. 47 of them have now publicly declared their support for marriage equality. The latest is Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey.
….with each similar announcement, the pressure rises on the remaining eight Senate Democrats who have not yet endorsed marriage equality: Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Bill Nelson of Florida, Tom Carper of Delaware, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
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Bloomberg: Chrysler Group LLC, joining U.S. automakers in fielding their most competitive cars in decades, said its March U.S. sales rose 5 percent as the Dodge Dart compact helped extend a streak of monthly gains.
Sales for Chrysler climbed to 171,606 cars and light trucks from 163,381 a year earlier …. The automaker set sales records with its Dodge Dart, Avenger, Challenger and Chrysler 200 cars as well as its Ram pickups.
Chrysler’s U.S. vehicle sales have increased 36 consecutive months, the longest stretch in the company’s records that date back to 1985…
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Marketwatch: …. Ford’s newest vehicles - Fusion and Escape - set all-time monthly sales records in March, driving Ford’s best U.S. sales results since May 2007.
“Customers are buying our all-new Fusion and Escape in record numbers, and we are working harder than ever to keep pace with demand for these fuel-efficient vehicles,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Full-size pickup demand continues gaining momentum, outperforming the industry for the third consecutive month.”
More here
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Charles Pierce: The Selling Of Rand Paul
The selling of Senator Aqua Buddha continues apace. Time now has joined the parade, explaining that junior is peddling a superior brand of more easily digestible horsepucky than his old man peddled, and that makes all the difference….
…. Seriously, the filibuster failed, and was “electrifying” only to those people who dropped a fan in the bathtub while listening to it….
There is no question that Aqua Buddha is a superior tap-dancer to his father, but ….. you nod along for five minutes and, at the 5:00:01 mark, you hear something that’s so nakedly opportunistic — Benghazi, BENGHAZI, BENGHAZI! — that you wonder if you’ve accidentally wandered into Sunday dinner at the Romneys…..
Full post here
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Jonathan Chait: Will Obama’s Majority Survive?
Since November, the prospective death of the Republican coalition has hovered over American politics, and the autopsy has gained renewed attention in light of the debates over gay marriage and immigration, both of which split the GOP from rising chunks of the electorate. I’m an advocate of the theory, first put forward a decade ago by Ruy Teixeira and John Judis, that the electorate is forming a natural Democratic majority. The Republican Party appears to be caught in a double bind, in which the electorate is growingly progressively less white, and even younger white voters hold less conservative views than older ones. What’s more, evidence suggests that voters maintain the partisan allegiances they form at a young age. The picture looks grim for the GOP.
More here
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March 3, 2025 (Photo by Pete Souza)
NYT: Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, is likely to be the next United States ambassador to Japan, according to people familiar with the appointment process.
The vetting of Ms. Kennedy by the White House is almost complete, and an appointment could be announced in the coming weeks, along with the names of several other choices for important diplomatic posts…
Washington Post: A majority of Americans believe that former President George W. Bush is more responsible than President Obama for the current economic problems in the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Fifty-four percent of respondents said that Bush was more to blame while 29 percent put the blame on Obama…. Independents continue to blame Bush far more than Obama for the economic troubles … 57/25 …. Heck, even one in five Republicans say Bush is more responsible than Obama for the state of the economy!
The economic blame game numbers are somewhat remarkable given that Obama is in the third year of his presidency …. We’ve written for quite some time that the longer Obama is in office (and the longer Bush is out of it), the more likely it is that blame for the economy would shift toward him. But, these numbers suggest — gasp! — we were wrong.
…. that the baseline in the economic blame game still favors Obama over Bush suggests that Republicans’ attempt to use the economy to drag the incumbent down won’t be as simple as some in the party might think.
More here
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CBS
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Buzzfeed: A document found online by BuzzFeed appears to be John McCain’s entire, 200-page opposition research file — or “book” — on Mitt Romney from 2008, the year they were bitter rivals. Segments of the book have been posted on RedState.com, but this the first time the document has been shared for public consumption in its entirety.
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Andrew Sullivan: Fox News is now waging war on the essay. I’m not surprised. Megyn Kelly has declared that I am “not a real journalist.” …. So this is an open challenge to Fox News. If you want to trash my work, have me on to defend it. Any time, Megyn. Any time. What are you afraid of?
Apart from the truth, that is.
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Nick Anderson
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LA Times: Republican voters may not have settled yet on a challenger to take on President Obama, but his reelection campaign is laying the groundwork for what could be a major television advertising buy to buttress his standing in the coming months.
Campaign officials have requested ad rates from television stations in at least 14 states, according to a strategist with a prominent political media agency, the first step they would take before deciding to purchase air time. That does not mean a buy will definitely occur this quarter, but Republicans are bracing for what they believe will be a multimillion-dollar campaign on the heels of the South Carolina GOP primary.
