President Barack Obama gestures on the second green as he plays golf at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe
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Hawaii News Now: Obama, New Zealand PM Hit Golf Course In Hawaii
President Barack Obama is hitting the golf course in Hawaii with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. The two leaders teed off on a sunny and breezy morning on the island of Oahu. They’re at a course on a military base near Obama’s rented vacation home. Key’s son and Obama’s personal aide completed the foursome.
More here
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President Barack Obama plays golf with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe
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Max Key, son of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, holds the pin while playing a round of golf with President Barack Obama
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama address military personnel during a Christmas day visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, Hawaii
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Obama “decided to take individual pictures with all of the roughly 580 service members and their families,” per pool, he’s about an hour in.
— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) December 26, 2025
Malia Obama, Sasha Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama, and Bobby Titcomb attend the Oregon State University versus University of Akron college basketball game at the Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu
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Today is the deadline to enroll for #ObamaCare plans that start 1/1/14. Take a few moments and #GetCovered healthcare.gov
— Steve Walker (@stevenlwalker) December 23, 2025
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HHs.gov: Greetings Again From Texas
Greetings again from Texas. I just had the opportunity to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Clinic which is doing some great work here in Dallas to help Texans learn about their new options under the Affordable Care Act. I wanted to share the stories of a couple of these people who I met today in Dallas: Misty Parker is a 31 year-old who works with a community-oriented startup company, which does not currently offer insurance. Misty says that because of the Health Insurance Marketplace, with financial help, she was able to sign up for a Bronze plan for $38 a month. She had questions, but Misty says she was able to get answers from the call center.
I also met Amanda Waddle, who shared her and her husband Brian’s story about getting covered through the Marketplace. They both enjoy playing hockey and were concerned about what might happen if they got injured on the ice. A 26-year-old graduate student, Amanda said she couldn’t afford insurance on the private market. Brian also didn’t have coverage despite working two jobs as a waiter and a broadcast statistician for the Dallas Stars hockey team. Thanks to the choices, competition, and financial help in the Marketplace, Amanda says she and her husband were able to get covered for only $105 a month. She also signed up for a dental plan for $10 a month.
So I invite you to follow Misty’s and Amanda’s lead! You can learn about your new options online at HealthCare.gov or by phone at 1-800-318-2596/TTY 1-855-889-4325. You can also find help in your community at localhelp.healthcare.gov. You have more than three months, until the end of March to enroll in coverage for 2014. If you’d like your coverage to begin January 1st, you have until December 23 to sign up.
More here
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Basketball Video Here
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If you haven't heard yet, the Obama family is in Hawaii cheering on the Beavers. Via @OregonStateMBB #gobeavs --> http://t.co/1Yocx7rU1X
— Oregon State (@oregonstateuniv) December 23, 2025
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Please RT to help me get the word out: today is the last day to sign up on healthcare.gov if you want coverage that begins Jan. 1!
— Kathleen Sebelius (@Sebelius) December 23, 2025
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Matthew Yglesias: What You Need To Know About Today’s Obamacare Deadline
So here’s the key thing: Today is the last day to sign up if you want to get insurance coverage that starts in January of next year. But if you’re currently uninsured and you don’t sign up today, nothing bad happens to you. It’s just that starting on January 1 you’ll still be uninsured. You have until March to sign up and avoid paying the individual mandate fee. The main reason an uninsured person will probably want to sign up for an exchange plan is the same as the main reason that people whose employers offer work-linked insurance plans generally sign up—due to subsidies it’s a good deal in actuarial terms for most people, and even when it isn’t the sense of confidence and security (“insurance,” some might call it) offered by insurance coverage is valuable.
More here
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Have you enrolled yet? OFA.BO/vPwd4N
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 23, 2025
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President Obama will sign up for Health Insurance on the Marketplace by the end of today according to Valerie Jarrett @vj44
— (@AprilDRyan) December 23, 2025
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Jennifer Epstein: Jarrett: Obama To Buy Health Insurance By End Of The Day
President Obama plans to sign up for health insurance through an Affordable Care Act exchange before the end of the day Monday, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said. Jarrett made the announcement in an interview with April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks, apparently ahead of the White House’s planned rollout. Officials did not respond to repeated requests for confirmation. The White House first said back in 2010 that the president, who has coverage through the federal government and gets his care from White House doctors, would sign up for insurance through an exchange.
More here
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Ian Millhiser: Justice Department Calls In The Big Guns To Stop Voter Suppression
It’s difficult to exaggerate the prominence Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan enjoys within the progressive legal community. Karlan is one of the most active members of the Supreme Court bar — among other things, she co-authored the brief that convinced the justices to strike down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act last June. She is a former litigator for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and she is among the most widely regarded voting rights experts in the nation. So when the Justice Department revealed on Friday that Karlan would become the nation’s top voting rights attorney, it was as if Marsellus Wallace called up the many voters being disenfranchised in states like Texas and North Carolina, and told them that he’s sending The Wolf.
Karlan will take over as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division’s voting rights section. In this role, she will oversee the Justice Department’s most important challenges to voter suppression laws — including its efforts to restore federal oversight of Texas’ election law and its challenge to the nation’s worst voter suppression law in North Carolina. As a senior member of the Civil Rights Division, Karlan will work under soon-to-be Assistant Attorney General Debo Adegbile, who President Obama recently nominated as the nation’s top civil rights attorney. Like Karlan, Adegbile is himself a leading expert on voting rights law
More here
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Zack Ford: New Mexico Supreme Court: Marriage Equality Is State Law
The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that same-sex marriage is legal across the state, cementing it as the 17th state to offer full marriage equality to same-sex couples. The state had been a bit of an oddity, in that it had no specific prohibition nor allowance written into law, leaving marriage equality an open question. The Court noted that although some of the marriage laws stipulate gender-specific language, preventing same-sex couples would deprive them of their rights
More here
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5 Things You Need To Know About The Escalating Violence In South Sudan thkpr.gs/1kzzEiE
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) December 23, 2025
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USA Today: Utah Same-Sex Marriage Ban Back In Court
A federal judge on Monday is set to consider a request from the state of Utah to block gay weddings that have been taking place since Friday when the state’s same-sex marriage ban was overturned. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled Utah’s law passed violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights under the 14th Amendment. Lawyers for the state want the ruling put on hold as they appeal the decision that has put Utah in the national spotlight because of its long-standing opposition to gay marriage. Shelby will hold a hearing on the request Monday morning. On Sunday, a federal appeals court rejected the state’s emergency request stay the ruling, saying they couldn’t rule on a stay since Shelby hasn’t acted on the motion before him.
Following Shelby’s surprising ruling Friday afternoon, gay and lesbian couples rushed to a county clerk’s office in Salt Lake City to get marriage licenses. More than 100 couples wed as others cheered them on in what became an impromptu celebration an office building about three miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church. Hundreds of couples are expected to arrive at county clerks offices early Monday morning in hopes of getting marriage licenses before a possible halt if Shelby grants the stay its request. Legal experts say that even if a stay is granted, the licenses that have already been issued will likely still be valid. For now, a state considered as one of the most conservative in the nation has joined the likes of California and New York to become the 18th state where same-sex couples can legally wed.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama react with daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama while attending a basketball game between Oregon State and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu on December 22, 2025
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MoooOOOooorning Early-ish Birds! Running verrrry late today, but will catch up … eventually!
MoooOOOooorning again everyone - you’ll note this is quite a short news-less R&S :???: Work is interfering again, grr. Chat on, and we’ll catch up later in the day.
The First Family is scheduled to return on Jan. 5 to Washington, D.C., according to the White House. There are no public events scheduled for their stay in Hawaii.
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Mr. President, what killed your poll numbers: the economy improving, the wars ending, the deficit shrinking, or people getting health care?
— Michael Grunwald (@MikeGrunwald) December 20, 2025
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Unemployment falling? ✓ Economy recovering ✓ Obamacare sign-ups surging? ✓ Progress with Iran/Syria? ✓ Jeez, imagine if Obama had a good yr!
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) December 21, 2025
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Steve Benen: ACA enrollment ‘surging’ in December
The Obama administration has long hoped that Affordable Care Act enrollment would follow a predictable trajectory: the totals would start slow, then pick up steam as the website improves and deadlines draw closer.At this point, the model is proving to be pretty accurate:
States running their own Obamacare insurance exchanges are reporting a significant surge in sign-ups just four days before the first major enrollment deadline. The increase has ranged from 30 percent to 40 percent in the past few weeks….
New York is enrolling about 4,500 people a day. In California, it’s 15,000 a day. In Kentucky, which has become something of a national model for implementation, enrollment totals are up 40% since Thanksgiving.
….. It would appear far-right calls for Americans to stay uninsured on purpose, just to satisfy conservative ideological goals, aren’t going over especially well.
Full post here
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Yahoo headline I can believe in >>> #Obamacare Enrollment Is Absolutely Exploding In California http://t.co/05XGhk9f6a via @YahooFinance
— BWD (@theonlyadult) December 21, 2025
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LA Times: Another day, another leak from Issa, another credulous news report
The sun has risen in the East, so there must be a news report somewhere quoting a partial transcript leaked by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) purporting to show the shortcomings of Obamacare.
Bingo! We have not one but two “investigative” news reports, from CBS and ABC, based on the same partial transcript. And both, consequently, have the same level of credibility: none. CBS News even offers a dividend — a thoroughly dishonest and discreditable interview with Issa himself…..
More here
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@WhiteHouse: Reflecting in the Oval
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ThinkProgress: Nearly Four Million Low-Income Americans Now Have Health Coverage Under Obamacare
About 1.7 million poor Americans looking for health coverage were deemed eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in November, according to new government data released on Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also revised previous estimates that about 1.5 million people qualified for Medicaid or CHIP in October up to 2.1 million. All told, that means that just under four million low-income Americans now have access to public health insurance.
More here
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President Obama holds a press conference in the James S. Press Briefing Room of the White House, Dec. 20, 2013 (Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
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Steve Benen: Economic growth picks up steam
When the initial estimates for economic growth in the third quarter – covering July, August, and September – were released in early November, the figures exceeded expectations. Now that the totals have been revised twice, the GDP numbers turned out to be much better than than originally thought:
The U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1% annual clip in the third quarter, the strongest performance in two years … The Commerce Department previously reported that gross domestic product had risen at a 3.6% annual rate. Consumer spending rose 2% instead of 1.4% as previously reported….
To put this number in a slightly larger context, note that 4.1% quarterly growth is the second strongest growth we’ve seen since the start of the Great Recession nearly six years ago. What’s more, this is only the third time in the last nine years that the GDP has topped 4%.
Full post here
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Want to help move the country forward? You might be interested in this: http://t.co/oJHaLqm4No
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 20, 2025
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The People’s View: How Has Barack Obama Disappointed YOU in 2013? - Outrage From A Parallel Reality
On Wednesday, NPR’s Liz Halloran told us how Barack Obama has disappointed liberals in 2013, how this was the year of disappointing the liberal base. Immediately, her comment section filled with Lefties panting and falling over themselves to declare how correct she is. And really, when hasn’t he, if you ask whoever this ever illusive “liberal base” is. So disappointing. How disappointing has Obama been to his liberal base? Oh, let me count the ways.
…. I implore you, liberals. Stick to your gut feelings. Stick to truthiness. Even if a preponderance of the evidence points to 2013 being a remarkably liberal year for President Obama and his administration, stick your head in the sand and yell about the NSA and drones. You don’t need evidence, facts, or data. All you need is a conservative columnist yanking your chain so you can lose your sh*t.
Full post here
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Steve Benen: Giving new meaning to ‘Do-Nothing’ Congress
If all goes according to plan, the Senate should wrap up its work for 2013 today and join the House on a holiday break. For his part, President Obama will sign the budget agreement into law before the end of the year, too.
And when he does, that will bring the grand total of bills signed into law in the 113th Congress to … 58…
…. The historic metrics are rather striking: 2013 was the least productive for any Congress since clerks on the Hill started keeping track, and this Congress is on track to pass fewer laws than any modern Congress.
Full post here
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You know, BuzzFeed is beginning to make GOPolitico look fair and balanced - this is hilarious:
ThinkProgress: BuzzFeed Declares Paul Ryan A ‘Champion Of The Poor,’ Offers No Supporting Evidence
If your only recent impressions of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) came from BuzzFeed, you’d be inclined to think that the former vice presidential candidate has made a major shift in policy to start focusing on poverty in the United States. You would be wrong.
On Friday, BuzzFeed ran a glowing profile of Ryan, entitled “Paul Ryan Finds God,” that portrayed him as a man who was inspired by religion and the ascendancy of a new pope to become a caretaker for the nation’s poor. But the piece, similar to another article that ran in the Washington Post last month, offered up no substance to show that Ryan’s policies have changed or that his religious outlook is any different than it was during the 2012 campaign. Rather, it relied on quotes from Paul Ryan’s own supporters — former campaign staffers and members of President George W. Bush’s cabinet — to demonstrate that Ryan has shifted his focus.
More here
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Paul Ryan helps the poor the same way the Koch brothers help the environment — by giving them insurmountable obstacles to overcome.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) December 20, 2025
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was released from the hospital Friday afternoon, his office announced:
“Senator Reid has been released from the hospital and is back at home with his wife, Landra. As previously stated, he went to the hospital as a precaution,” Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said in a statement. “The doctors diagnosed him as exhausted, not anything more serious, and have cleared him to go back to work. He spent today resting, talking to family, friends and colleagues, reading the news and discussing Senate business. He appreciates the kind words and thoughts sent by so many, thanks the doctors at George Washington University Hospital for the excellent care he received, and wishes everyone a Happy Holidays.”
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Good news for voting rights: Pam Karlan to head Justice Department VR division. She’s brilliant & principled. http://t.co/zuMEnZ56jt
ThinkProgress: Ten Women’s Health Heroes Who Inspired Us In 2013
This past year included an overwhelming number of attacks on reproductive health and freedom, including some of the harshest abortion bans this country has seen since Roe v. Wade. However — despite the persistent attempts to silence, shame, and police women and their bodies — there is one positive benefit resulting from the ongoing War on Women. It gave rise to several champions who didn’t back down from fighting for the issues that matter. Here are ten people who inspired us in 2013….
— SheriffFruitfly (@sherifffruitfly) December 21, 2025
Sometimes you land with more baggage than you took off with. #HasJustineLandedYet
— Mike Monteiro (@monteiro) December 21, 2025
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On This Day:
Snow covers the East Garden at the White House, Dec. 21, 2009 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
President Obama jokes with Vice President Biden in the Oval Office, Dec. 21, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama rests his foot on the Resolute Desk during a call with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the Oval Office, Dec. 21, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama embraces Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., following a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office, Dec. 21, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)
The President and Bo ride in the presidential motorcade en route to PetSmart in Alexandria, Va. Dec. 21, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama poses with children outside a Best Buy after doing some Christmas shopping in Alexandria, Va., Dec. 21, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama walks toward the Oval Office with Bo, the Obama family dog, after returning from a Christmas shopping trip, Dec. 21, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)
White House.gov