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Tag: president obama

  • Sarah Palin: “Obama Wept, While We All Continue to Weep for Our Country”

    In a short op-ed for Brietbart.com, former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has lashed out at President Obama for crying during his emotional gun control speech, delivered on Tuesday.

    “The whole world weeps waiting for American leadership in these troubled times as Islamic savages commit genocide against the Christians of the Middle East and terrorize innocent people in cities across the globe,” she wrote.

    “Meanwhile, Obama wept as he blamed law-abiding patriots for the nation’s insecurity and sought to strip them of the Constitutional rights that generations of Americans shed blood to protect.”

    In the speech, Obama outlined a handful of actions he plans to take to curb the gun violence that has taken tens of thousands of lives over the past year. These included expanded background checks, improved mental health focus, and new gun safety measures.

    At times, the speech made the President very emotional.

    “Our inalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness – those rights were stripped from college kids in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara, and from high schoolers at Columbine,” Obama said near the close of the speech.

    “And from first graders in Newtown,” he continued. “First graders.”

    The President then became visibly upset, and wiped away tears as he said,

    “And from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad. And by the way it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.”

    “Obama wept, while we all continue to weep for our country and the civilized world,” wrote Palin.

  • Ahmed Mohamed, Teen Arrested for Bringing Clock to School, Gets Presidential Support

    Ahmed Mohamed, the Texas teen thrust in the national spotlight after he was arrested and suspended for bringing a homemade clock to school, has friends in high places.

    President Obama tweeted his support Wednesday afternoon, asking if Ahmed wants to visit the White House with his clock.

    “Cool clock, Ahmed,” tweeted Obama. “Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great”

    He’s also found support from Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton:

    Ahmed brought what he says was an engineering project to his Irving, Texas school on Monday. According to the Dallas Morning News, Ahmed’s English teacher heard the device going off in class and took it away from him. By sixth period, Ahmed was in the process of being arrested.

    He claims he was interrogated by multiple police officers, threatened, and accused a trying to build a bomb.

    By Wednesday morning, Irving Police have conceded it’s not a dangerous device, but officers had determined it was a “hoax bomb” despite Ahmed’s protestations of it simply being a clock.

    From the Dallas News:

    At a press conference this morning, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd said Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing “a hoax bomb” to school — and not a clock, as Mohamed said he repeatedly told his teachers.

    But, Boyd said, “we are confident it’s not an explosive device” intended to cause “alarm.” Rather, he said, officers determined it was “a hoax bomb” and a “naive accident.”

    As a result, he said, no charges will be filed against Ahmed, and “the case is considered closed.” He also said “the reaction would have been the same regardless” of the student’s skin color.

    His family and many on Twitter feel otherwise.

    The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has been trending all day.

  • Jon Stewart Secret White House Meetings: What Happened?

    Jon Stewart has been twice summoned to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama. Is Stewart a Liberal operative, using his show as a base of operations through which to influence the minds of young people?

    That notion has sprung from, though not necessarily originated with, a recent Politico “investigation.” The unearthing of proof of Jon Stewart’s secret meetings with President Obama wasn’t really all that hard. He was right there in the visitor logs. But when you put his visits and the other events of those days together, you may see patterns.

    Or not.

    “Jon Stewart slipped unnoticed into the White House in the midst of the October 2011 budget fight,” Politico reports, “summoned to an Oval Office coffee with President Barack Obama”

    “In February 2014, Obama again requested Stewart make the trip from Manhattan to the White House, this time for a midmorning visit hours before the president would go before television cameras to warn Russia that ‘there will be costs’ if it made any further military intervention in Ukraine.”

    “To engage privately with the president in his inner sanctum at two sensitive moments — previously unreported meetings that are listed in the White House visitor logs and confirmed to Politico by three former Obama aides — speaks volumes about Stewart and his reach, which goes well beyond the million or so viewers who tune in to The Daily Show on most weeknights.”

    This week, Jon Stewart himself twice addressed addressed the conspiracy theories about his visits to the White House.

    “I went through the normal White House entrance like everyone else,” Stewart told his Daily Show audience, “and I told my mom what I was doing, and then she told her friends, and then her friends were like, ‘Still not a cardiologist.’ But the point is this: Something is not a secret just because you don’t know about it!”

    Stewart said he and Obama discussed the Obamacare website fiasco. Of course, “discussed’ is a loose term.

    “‘Really? The VA [Veterans’ Administration] can’t be fixed any quicker or healthcare.gov can’t come online without crashing my son’s Minecraft game?’”

    Jon Stewart wrapped by saying, “To all future presidents, if you asked me to come to Washington, I will do that. Because I have no idea how to react to that other than, ‘What time?’ ”

  • Charlize Theron, President Obama, and A Strip Club?

    Charlize Theron, President Obama, and A Strip Club?

    Charlize Theron, President Obama, and a strip club aren’t three topics one might expect to find all strung together in the same sentence–or even the same paragraph, for that matter. But they are all vert directly related to one another, per a funny story The Mad Max: Fury Road star recently shared during a visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live.

    Jimmy Kimmel mentioned, while chatting with Charlize Theron, that the last time she appeared on his show, she spent some time chatting backstage with President Barack Obama.

    What ensued–based upon that casual mention–is hilarious.

    “Oh my god, this was terrible, Jimmy, this was terrible,” Charlize Theron behan. “I have this thing that happens when I get nervous where I get so nervous that I will say something really inappropriate. I can’t… it’s like Tourette’s in a weird way. I don’t know how to stop it, it just like verbal diarrhea.”

    “I was really nervous because I was kind of hiding in the back and then somebody from his team like came to get me and ushered me over to him,” the actress continued. “He waited to meet with me and everything had stopped around his world to meet me and it was just a lot of pressure and I was really nervous.”

    Theron dished about how President Obama was excited about the group of Americans he might potentially connect with as a result of his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The president was happy to reach a potentially new demographic.

    “Then there was this pause and I didn’t know what to say,” Charlize Theron added. “All I could come up with was, ‘Well, if you’re looking for a different demographic, I can take you to a strip club!’ It was terrible, terrible, terrible.”

    Not only was the look on Jimmy Kimmel’s face priceless, but imagining the look on President Obama’s face at that time was amusing as well.

    It would be positively perfect now if Jimmy Kimmel could arrange a joint visit on his show with both President Obama and Charlize Theron. Fans or foes of both would no doubt love to know what went through President Obama’s mind when Charlize Theron made him that most unusual offer.

  • Bill Cosby Gets Hinted Diss From Obama, But Still Keeps Medal of Freedom

    Bill Cosby was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Now some people say President BArack Obama should take it back.

    A petition asking President Obama to revoke Bill Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom has gotten tons of support, even from within Congress. Senator Kristen Gillibrand has added her voice to the effort.

    “The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest award bestowed on civilians for their contributions to society. Bill Cosby does not deserve to be on the list of distinguished recipients,” the petition asserts.

    Senator Gillibrand spoke up about the allegations against Bill Cosby, urging the President to heed the wishes of the 5,000+ signatories of the petition, especially after testimony from Cosby that he procured Quaaludes for purposes of sex with women.

    “Kirsten has always advocated for listening to survivors’ voices. This 10-year-old admission is appalling, but sadly not surprising considering that dozens of women have been speaking out,” Glen Caplin, spokesperson for Senator Gillibrand spokesperson said.

    “She supports this group’s effort because we need to set a clear example that sexual assault will not be tolerated in this country, and someone who admitted to using drugs for sex no longer deserves the nation’s highest honor.”

    However, when asked about the effort to revoke Cosby’s medal, President Obama said there is no precedent for doing so, nor is there any existing process. While the President did not comment on Cosby’s situation by name, he did speak in general terms about the matter.

    “I’ll say this. If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape. And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape.”

    Some see the President’s words as a veiled admission that he too sees Cosby as guilty, even though the allegations may have escaped court.

  • Lena Dunham: Malia Obama Works On Set of ‘Girls,’ May Have Helped President’s Daughter Get Internship

    Lena Dunham may have been instrumental in helping Malia Obama get her summer job. Of course the fact that she’s the president’s daughter didn’t hurt either.

    It seems Malia is a big fan of Lena Dunham, and when the Girls actress visited the White House a while back, the first daughter admitted as much to Dunham.

    “She’s a fan, and she mentioned that to Lena [Dunham] when she came to the White House,” a source close to the production said in a recent interview with Us Weekly. “I’m not sure how long she’ll be interning for. It’s a bit of a trial thing for her. They’ve known each other and discussed for a while. Lena and her get along great.”

    So far Malia Obama has delivered coffee to Lena Dunham and her cast mates and crew, and has helped keep fans away from the Girls set.

    Working for Lena Dunham isn’t Malia Obama’s first celebrity encounter, however. Last summer she interned for Halle Berry on the set of Extant.

    At the end of this summer, Malia will return to her final year at the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. A year from this fall she will head to college.

    She will no doubt impress her new friends–as well as those she’ll spend her senior year with–when she dishes on what it was like working all summer in such close proximity to Lena Dunham.

    But then again, she’s Malia Obama. People are probably already a bit in awe of her for being President Obama’s daughter.

    Do you suppose she might shower her BFFs with merchandise or souvenirs signed by Lena Dunham at the end of her summer internship?

  • Jessica Lange: How She Feels About Comparison to Caitlyn Jenner

    Jessica Lange has been making headlines since Monday, when Bruce Jenner came out via the cover of Vanity Fair magazine as Caitlyn Jenner. Similarities between Lange and Jenner have appeared on several TV news programs and online as well.

    So how does Jessica Lange–known for roles in films including Tootsie and more recently for her American Horror Story role–feel about being compared to Caitlyn Jenner?

    Even before seeing the Vanity Fair cover, she was honored.

    “Oh, really? That’s wonderful,” Jessica Lange told The Daily Beast.

    “Well now I’m going to have to look for that picture,” she added.

    It is uncanny how similar the facial structure of Caitlyn Jenner and Jessica Lange appear.

    Bruce Jenner underwent 10 hours of facial feminization surgery in March to achieve his transition from a man to a woman.

    Jessica Lange might be honored, but something she doesn’t have that Caitlyn Jenner does is more than two million Twitter followers. In just four hours on Monday, Caitlyn Jenner had amassed her followers, shattering a record set by President Obama a couple of weeks ago.

    Can you see the similarities between Caitlyn Jenner and Jessica Lange that have been pointed out in the media?

  • People Are Actually Dumb Enough to @Mention Obama When Threatening to Kill Him on Twitter

    People Are Actually Dumb Enough to @Mention Obama When Threatening to Kill Him on Twitter

    As you may know, President Obama opened up a Twitter account earlier this week. What? You’ve been following Obama on Twitter for years? Well, not really. You’ve been following his campaign non-profit and possibly the White House. More on that here.

    So, now that the President has an official account that’s really, actually, seriously him tweeting, this is happening:

    You know what happens to people who threaten to kill the President on Twitter? Well, sometimes nothing – there are a lot of tweets out there. But sometimes you get sent to prison. Sometimes.

    Here’s a fun fact, however. The White House is archiving every single one of those tweets. Literally. Any tweet that even @-mentions the @POTUS account is going in the archive.

    This is taken directly from the White House’s digital privacy primer:

    On Twitter, the White House automatically archives “tweets” from official White House accounts, “direct messages” sent to or from official White House accounts, and “mentions” (tweets from other users to official White House accounts; these tweets contain an @ and the username of an official White House account (e.g., @WhiteHouse). The White House also automatically archives any status that official accounts have “favorited.”

    Really. This is now in the national archives too:

    Reading tweets directed @POTUS is an amazing, frustrating, and ultimately comical experience. God Bless America.

    Image via White House, Twitter

  • Racist Google Maps Searches Pointed Users at the White House

    This post contains language some may find offensive.

    I guess it’s the trendy thing to mess with Google Maps these days.

    Google has apologized and fixed what appears to be some third-party shenanigans that pointed users to the White House when racist searches were made.

    According to the Washington Post, if you typed “nigger house” or “nigger king” into the search function on Google Maps, Google would point you in the direction of the White House.

    As soon as Google was notified of this, it sprung into action.

    “Some inappropriate results are surfacing in Google Maps that should not be, and we apologize for any offense this may have caused. Our teams are working to fix this issue quickly,” said the company in a statement.

    Google has since fixed the issues, but this GIF from the Washington Post shows what happened when you searched a phrase like “nigger king”:

    Last week, Google temporarily suspended Map Maker due to a series of “pranks” executed on the platform.

    “We are temporarily disabling editing on Map Maker starting today, while we continue to work towards making the moderation system more robust. We thank each one of you who responded to us with your support and thoughtful suggestions on how to resolve this situation. We are considering all options that will help us turn on editing as soon as possible, and we will keep you posted on the progress we make,” said Map Maker Product Manager Pavithra Kanakarajan.

    Last month, pranksters put “Edwards Snow Den” inside the White House. Before that, someone put an Android robot pissing on an Apple logo near Pakistan.

    Of course, unlike this most recent “prank” involving the White House, those enjoy the benefit of actually being funny.

    Image via Cezary p, Wikimedia Commons

  • Obama Urged to Reject Encryption Backdoors in Tech-Backed Letter

    President Obama is about to receive a letter signed by dozens upon dozens of companies and organizations, urging him to resist giving government agencies access to citizens’ personal data via backdoors in encrypted devices.

    “We urge you to reject any proposal that U.S. companies deliberately weaken the security of their products. We request that the White House instead focus on developing policies that will promote rather than undermine the wide adoption of strong encryption technology. Such policies will in turn help to promote and protect cybersecurity, economic growth, and human rights, both here and abroad,” says the letter.

    “We are writing today to respond to recent statements by some Administration officials regarding the deployment of strong encryption technology in the devices and services offered by the U.S. technology industry. Those officials have suggested that American companies should refrain from providing any products that are secured by encryption, unless those companies also weaken their security in order to maintain the capability to decrypt their customers’ data at the government’s request. Some officials have gone so far as to suggest that Congress should act to ban such products or mandate such capabilities.”

    The idea that devices should be encrypted but not that encrypted is one that’s been gloated around as of late by officials like U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

    The “current course [the technology industry is on], toward deeper and deeper encryption in response to the demands of the marketplace, is one that presents real challenges for those in law enforcement and national security,” said Johnson recently. “Encryption is making it harder for your government to find criminal activity and potential terrorist activity.”

    The consortium argues against backdoors (or front doors or whatever you want to call them) that would allow access to encrypted devices.

    “Encryption thereby protects us from innumerable criminal and national security threats. This protection would be undermined by the mandatory insertion of any new vulnerabilities into encrypted devices and services. Whether you call them ‘front doors’ or ‘back doors’, introducing intentional vulnerabilities into secure products for the government’s use will make those products less secure against other attackers. Every computer security expert that has spoken publicly on this issue agrees on this point, including the government’s own experts,” says the letter.

    The letter is signed by companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and Yahoo – as well as privacy organizations like the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and over 50 security and policy experts.

    According to the Washington Post, the letter is also signed by “three of the five members of a presidential review group appointed by Obama in 2013 to assess technology policies in the wake of leaks by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.”

    “The Administration faces a critical choice: will it adopt policies that foster a global digital ecosystem that is more secure, or less? That choice may well define the future of the Internet in the 21st century,” they say.

    Image via White House, Twitter

  • Obama Joins Twitter … For Real (At Least For Now)

    Obama Joins Twitter … For Real (At Least For Now)

    Here’s the first tweet from President Barack Obama’s brand new Twitter account.

    Like heck you say, I’ve been following Obama for years.

    Well, kind of.

    This account is not really President Obama:

    Neither is this one:

    @BarackObama used to be The President’s official account – but as The Washington Post explains, it’s really run by Obama’s non-profit:

    After the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama and his allies formed Organizing For Action, a non-profit organization that was intended to carry on the grass-roots work of Obama for America, the 2012 campaign. In order to get people involved, OFA (which from here on out will be short for Organizing For Action) rented the social media accounts that were — and still are — owned by the Obama campaign.

    So, @BarackObama has always spoken for the President (and moved his agenda), but it wasn’t really Obama himself sitting there tweeting. He did “author” some tweets from that account, always signed “-BO”. But that hasn’t happened in over two years.

    Long story short, this is actually Obama tweeting from his own account, for the first time in a long time. We’ll see how long it lasts.

    FLOTUS is on board, by the way.

    Above image via @POTUS, Twitter. Yes, Obama currently has 666K followers. Do what you want with that, Fox News.

  • Ben Carson Announces He is Officially Running for President

    Ben Carson has officially announced he is running for president, adding yet another candidate to the Republican field. The retired neurosurgeon spoke with KOMO News on Sunday, and said he is in the 2016 race.

    “I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” Carson said.

    “Many people have suggested to me that I should run for president, even though I’m not a politician,” Ben Carson added.

    Dr. Ben Carson rose up out of poverty in Detroit–eventually becoming the head of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was first recognized politically when he admonished President Barack Obama two years ago during the National Prayer Breakfast. He spoke out against a few White House policies, including Obamacare.

    “I began to ask myself, ‘why are people clamoring for me to do this?’ I represented a lot of the same thoughts that they have,” Ben Carson says. “I’m not 100 percent sure ‘politics as usual’ is not going to save us. I think we are in a severe problem…a problematic situation.”

    Ben Carson is known for shunning political correctness. He refers to himself as a ‘reluctant warrior’ and admits there’s no way he can solve all of the problems the United States is facing.

    Ben Carson is expected to make a formal announcement about his presidential candidacy on Monday at an event in Detroit.

    Are you surprised to learn the retired neurosurgeon is throwing his hat into the proverbial ring? Can he earn the Republican nomination?

  • Obama’s Police Body Camera Initiative Kicks into Gear

    On the day that Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby charged six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, the Obama administration has announced it’s kicking its police body camera initiative into full gear.

    The first step is to spend $20 million on the body cameras, according to the Justice Department.

    According to The Hill, “$17 million would reportedly come in the form of grants for departments to purchase the cameras, while $2 million will go towards training and technical assistance and another $1 million for evaluating the effectiveness of the program.”

    Also, a third of the funding will be spent on “small” police departments.

    “This body-worn camera pilot program is a vital part of the Justice Department’s comprehensive efforts to equip law enforcement agencies throughout the country with the tools, support and training they need to tackle the 21st century challenges we face,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.”

    This is the beginning of an initiative announced by the administration in December of 2014. Obama’s “Strengthen Community Policing” plan has three main goals: Advancing the use of body worn cameras and promoting proven community policing initiatives; creating a new task force to promote expansion of the community-oriented policing model, which encourages strong relationships between law enforcement and the communities that they serve as a proven method of fighting crime; and reforming how the federal government equips state and local law enforcement – particularly with military-style equipment.

    The entire plan will be rolled out over three years and cost an estimated $263 million. The specific Body Worn Camera Partnership Program will cost $75 million and the White House hopes to provide 50,000 body cameras to departments across the country.

    Earlier this week presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said that body cameras should be worn by all police.

  • Cecily Strong, Of ‘SNL’ Fame, Will Host White House Correspondents’ Dinner

    She has held her own against her peers at Saturday Night Live, but Cecily Strong will soon face her toughest challenge yet when she hosts this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

    The 31-year-old is a surprising choice to host the annual dinner. She’s not a stand-up comedian like her SNL co-host Seth Meyer, nor is she a known host like Jon Stewart.

    But what she is is a veteran at improvisation who has honed her skills at Chicago’s Second City and iO comedy theaters, a skill that should come in handy at the White House roast.

    She’s also, as the WHCA’s president Christi Parsons describes – “the nice girl who’s cutting in a way that you don’t really notice until later.” – making her perfect for delivering those zingers to the politicians and journalists in attendance.

    Among those who’ll be in attendance is Strong’s father, a former journalist who was the one the Correspondents’ Association got in touch with first. Parsons emailed him to get in touch with Cecily.

    “I thought he was saying he had been invited. So I said, “Uh, great, Dad…have fun?” the SNL mainstay said before realizing the invitation was for her.

    Despite joking that she was hoping to find an excuse to turn down the offer, Cecily admits that “it’s too exciting to say no to.”

    “I would kick myself. How many times will I get to do this again? Never—he’s not going to have anymore! He’s done being president now! I’m giving him his last hurrah,” she added.

    And giving President Obama a fitting sendoff worries the funny lady, especially since she believes he’s the “funniest president” America has ever had.

    “He’s known as an amazingly funny guy,” she admits in an interview. “You know, his timing is great. He had that moment at the State of the Union where he said, ‘Well, I should know because I won two of them.’ I’ve never said anything that cool on the spot. And so, it’s tough to follow that guy.”

  • Malia Obama: Who Taught Her How to Drive?

    Malia Obama: Who Taught Her How to Drive?

    Malia Obama didn’t go to a nearby Washington, D.C. driving school when she became old enough to drive. Instead, people from the Secret Service taught President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s older daughter to drive.

    Michelle Obama shared that little tidbit of information when she taped an interview with Rachael Ray for The Rachael Ray Show. The episode aired on Thursday.

    “The Secret Service [taught her], actually, because they wouldn’t let me in the car with her,” Michelle Obama said.

    On Monday, the first lady visited with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on Live! With Kelly and Michael and shared that Malia recently asked her a question about parking in a public lot.

    “I barely know now too so I have to check with other sources,” she said.

    Surprisingly, Malia Obama goes out driving on her own.

    “She always has security around. But in order for her to learn how to drive, she had to drive on her own. So once she was legally permitted to drive on her own, she gets in her car,” Michelle Obama said.

    The president and first lady allow Malia Obama to go out driving as part of their effort to allow their daughters as much normalcy in their growing up years as possible. It must be frightening, however.

    “Driving for Malia, I think, gives her a sense of normalcy, like the rest of her friends are doing. And my kids have got to learn how to live in the world like normal kids,” the first lady said.

    Surely Malia Obama is never far from the eyes of the Secret Service. If they taught her how to drive, they’re probably following along fairly close behind while she heads out on her own.

    Do you think it’s nearly as frightening for Malia Obama to go out driving solo as it is for her parents to allow her to do so?

  • Obama Approves Sanctions on Cyber-Attackers

    Today, President Obama signed an executive order that will allow the US government to go after those who perpetrate cyber attacks with sanctions

    “Cyber intrusions and attacks  – many of them originating overseas  – are targeting our businesses, stealing trade secrets, and costing American jobs,” says President Obama.

    “In response to these cyber threats, our government is using every tool at our disposal  –  including diplomacy, law enforcement, and cooperation with other nations and the private sector  – to strengthen our defenses and detect, prevent, respond to, and recover from attacks. Still, it’s often hard to go after bad actors, in part because of weak or poorly enforced foreign laws, or because some governments are either unwilling or unable to crack down on those responsible.

    “That’s why, with the new Executive Order I’m signing today, I’m for the first time authorizing targeted sanctions against individuals or entities whose actions in cyberspace result in significant threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States.”

    You can read the entire executive order here.

    According to Obama, the White House’s primary focus will be on international threats. “From now on, we have the power to freeze their assets, make it harder for them to do business with U.S. companies, and limit their ability to profit from their misdeeds,” says Obama.

    Obama also authorized sanctions against companies that use information gained from said cyberattacks, what he calls the “demand side”.

    “Malicious cyber activity — whether it be stealing sensitive information, including personal identifiers, or trade secrets — is often profit-motivated. Because those responsible want to enjoy the ill-gotten proceeds of their activities, sanctions can have a significant impact. By freezing assets of those subject to sanctions and making it more difficult for them to do business with U.S. entities, we can remove a powerful economic motivation for committing these acts in the first place. With this new tool, malicious cyber actors who would target our critical infrastructure or seek to take down Internet services would be subject to these costs when designated for sanctions,” says Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco.

    Back in February, Obama established a new cyber intelligence agency called the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC). The brand new agency tasked with centralizing and organizing intelligence related to cyber threats to help combat cyber attacks. With these two actions, Obama is making good on promises he made in the SOTU address to focus on cybersecurity.

    Image via Barack Obama, Medium

  • Kentucky Wins Facebook’s NCAA Bracket, Obama’s Too

    If you’re having trouble finishing your NCAA tournament bracket, you could turn to the largest social network in the world or the leader of the free world for help.

    Facebook mined all the posts and comments about all the teams in the field and filled out a bracket based on which teams garnered the most attention. Facebook’s Final Four is Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio St., and Duke, with UK playing Duke for the title.

    According to number of mentions, Kentucky is crowned national champion.

    Post by Sports on Facebook.

    Admittedly, this isn’t a very good way to make tournament picks. People could be talking a lot about a team, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to win. But in the case of Kentucky, it doesn’t seem like a bad bet.

    Over in the oval office, President Obama has completed his bracket as well. His Final Four looks a bit different, with Kentucky, Duke, Villanova, and Arizona advancing. Obama has UK facing Nova in the finals, with UK coming out on top.

    We wouldn’t exactly call this a bold prediction, but Obama isn’t known for his bold tournament picks. You kind of have to be diplomatic when you’re the President – can’t go knocking out a #1 seed in the second round or anything.

    Image via Kentucky Wildcats, Facebook

  • Obama Somehow Finds Some Mean Tweets to Read

    When we heard that President Obama was stopping by Jimmy Kimmel Live, we wondered if Kimmel would have him participate in his best segment – celebrities reading mean tweets.

    But then we thought – hey, where will they find any mean tweets about Obama for him to read? Is there anyone saying anything mean about our Commander-in-Chief on the internet? Will they have to make stuff up?

    Not to fear, guys, they found some. And boy, no punches were pulled.

    That gray hair joke. Brutal. Drop him on a golf course? LOL. People are so cruel these days.

    Image via Jimmy Kimmel Live, YouTube

  • Netanyahu’s Speech To Congress: Act Of Desperation Or Political Game?

    Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, which will take place on Tuesday, is certain to be a historic one.

    In the first place, Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was not invited or authorized by the Obama administration. In fact, it was sort of a back door invitation from John Boehner in a last ditch effort to stall or stop Iranian nuclear deal talks.

    Because of this, many see Netanyahu’s speech to Congress as a slap in the face to President Obama.

    However, it doesn’t seem to matter, because America is in talks to make a historic nuclear deal with Iran, and Netanyahu’s speech to Congress is one of desperation.

    The Prime Minister of Israel is doing whatever it takes to get his message in front of the government and people of America.

    Benjamin Netanyahu said of his upcoming speech to Congress, “I respect the White House and the President of the United States, but on such a fateful matter, that can determine whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel.”

    Detractors of Benjamin Netanyahu’s are saying that his speech before Congress only puts more strain on the relationship between Israel and America.

    The most vocal of these detractors is Netanyahu’s challenger in the upcoming Israeli elections, Isaac Herzog. On Friday, he wrote in the New York Times, “It will only undermine Israel’s ability to influence the critical issue of securing a genuine guarantee that Iran will never gain access to nuclear weaponry.”

    He added, “Such an outcome is what Israel needs, but it can be achieved only through a full and trusting dialogue with the American administration, based on broad bipartisan support.”

    What do you think? Is Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress simply an act of desperation to save his country or is it a politcal game played days before the Israeli election?

  • Newsweek Twitter Account Hacked, Posts Obama Threats

    Newsweek is the latest major publication to fall victim to a Twitter hack. It appears that a group calling itself Cyber Caliphate took over the magazine’s account around 11am EST, and began tweeting out threats, supposed leaked documents, and general propaganda relating to Islamic terrorism.

    “#CyberCaliphate Bloody Valentine’s Day #MichelleObama! We’re watching you, you girls, and your husband,” read one tweet.

    The hackers also published a purported organizational chart from the DCITA, or the Defense Cyber Investigations Training Academy.

    Twitter shut this one down pretty fast, and the tweets have since been deleted. But Newsweek has yet to fully restore the page:

    Image via Twitter, CNBC screenshot

  • Katy Perry Gives Moving ‘By the Grace of God’ Performance Against Domestic Abuse at Grammys

    Katy Perry made a powerful and moving statement against domestic abuse with her Grammys performance of her Prism ballad By the Grace of God Sunday.

    The segment featuring Katy Perry’s performance started with a taped video from President Barack Obama urging the end of “violence against women and girls” in order to “change our culture for the better.”

    “It’s not OK and it has to stop,” President Obama said, before citing the staggering statistics of women who were the victims of attempted rape or domestic violence.

    Obama noted the impact musicians like Katy Perry have in bringing social ills into he light.

    “Artists have a unique power to change minds and attitudes and get us thinking and talking about what matters.”

    Brooke Axtell, an Austin-based domestic-abuse survivor, activist and performance artist, followed Obama’s opening with a spoken-word piece.

    “If you are in a relationship with someone that does not honor or respect you, I want you to know that you are worthy of love,” said Axtell.

    Finally, Katy Perry, 30, took to the stage, dressed in white against a white backdrop, and sang the ballad while interpretive dancers performing as shadows behind her.

    Katy Perry‘s performance received a standing ovation from the audience.