President Barack Obama tosses up a basketball given to him by coach Geno Auriemma while honoring the 2015 NCAA Women’s Basketball Champion University of Connecticut Huskies during a ceremony in the White House. President Obama honored the Huskies for winning their third consecutive title with 10 overall
****
****
****
President Barack Obama shakes hands with King Felipe VI of Spain during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are visiting Washington
****
****
First Lady Michelle Obama and Queen Letizia
FLOTUS: Earlier today the First Lady hosted Queen Letizia of Spain for tea at the @WhiteHouse.
****
@CasaReal: La Primera Dama de EEUU @MichelleObama, con la Reina Letizia. Viaje Oficial a EEUU
****
@CasaReal: End of the meeting at the @Whitehouse: The King and Queen of Spain, US president and M. Obama
AP: Some of the money from President Barack Obama’s health care law is flowing to places you might not expect.
Two Texas public employee programs are among the top 25 beneficiaries of a $5-billion fund to shore up employer coverage for early retirees, despite Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s vow to repeal what Republicans derisively call “Obamacare.”
And records show the Huntsman family business, where GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman was once a top executive, received about $1 million.
Some see a gap between dire Republican rhetoric about the health care overhaul and the pragmatic impulse to cash in on a new government benefit.
“Lots of Texans are already benefiting from health care reform,” said Anne Dunkelberg, a health care expert at the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. “Other than for political theater, there would not be the kind of opposition there is.” The nonpartisan center advocates for the poor.
Full article here
****
****
The Week
****
****
Uggh, he’s at it again:
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
****
…. with Spain’s PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
… with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff
…. with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
… with International Labor Organization Director-General Juan Somavia
****
CNN: President Barack Obama leads all of his potential Republican challengers in hypothetical 2012 matchups among Pennsylvania adults, according to a new poll.
The Franklin and Marshall College poll released Thursday in the battleground state, shows Obama ahead of potential rivals Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum, but the results are closest when the president is paired with Romney.
Obama leads the former Massachusetts governor 35% to 26% and Cain, the former pizza executive, 38% to 24%. He enjoys a 20% lead over Texas Gov. Perry, 40% to 20% and a 13% advantage over former two-term Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum, 38% to 25%.
The art of looking nonplussed….with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his family…including his two Goth daughters. September, 2009
President Barack Obama greets First Lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha upon their arrival at a barbecue in celebration of his 49th birthday on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 8 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha meet Spain’s King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia at Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca August 8, 2025
First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha look out from the Alhambra Palace during her visit to the southern Spanish town of Granada August 5, 2025