ENOUGH CORRUPTION ALREADY! Daley Officially Runs for Illinois Governor

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Bill Daley, Chief of Staff, corruption, governor, illinois, Obama, White House

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, the son and brother of former mayors of Chicago, formally announced on Tuesday he is running for governor of Illinois in 2014.

Daley had said on June 11 he was exploring a bid.

“I’m committed to running for governor, there is no exploratory piece of this anymore,” Daley said in a video posted by his campaign on Tuesday.

The announcement sets the stage for a fight for the Democratic nomination for governor between Daley and Governor Pat Quinn.

Daley has been criticizing Quinn for months, saying that the governor has failed to lead a state facing a financial crisis over mounting costs of public sector pensions. Illinois faces an unfunded pension liability of some $100 billion and has the lowest debt rating among the states.

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Nearly 400K Sign NAACP Petition Calling for DOJ Investigation into Trayvon Martin Shooting

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George Zimmerman, NAACP, Petition, Signatures, Trayvon Martin, White House

More than 380,000 people have signed a petition created after a jury found George Zimmerman not-guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin Saturday, calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation.

“A jury has acquitted George Zimmerman, but we are not done demanding justice for Trayvon Martin. Sign our petition to the Department of Justice today,” a note accompanying the petition on Moveon.org read.

In barely 12 hours, the petition has garnered 250,000 signatures on the NAACP site, and the  petition by MoveOn.org drew 140,000.

The petition, created by NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, and addressed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, calls for the DOJ to file “civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation.”

“The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin…Please address the travesties of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin by acting today.”

View and Sign Petition to STOP the NAACP’s Intent to Investigate G.Z….

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REPORT: Radical Muslim Cleric’s Deputy Visited White House

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Abdullah bin Bayyah, Cleric, Egyptian, Extremist, Islamic, IUMS, Obama, Qaradawi, Radical, Sheik, Visit, White House

Radical Egyptian cleric Yusuf Qaradawi is considered so radical that the United States bans him from entering the country.

Qaradawi, considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, has called for the killing of Jews and Americans.

That history makes the June 13 White House meeting with Sheik Abdullah Bin Bayyah all the more inexplicable. Bin Bayyah is vice president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a group founded by and headed by Qaradawi. The IUMS has a long history of supporting Hamas –a top Hamas leader is an IUMS member – and of calling for Israel’s destruction.

Bin Bayyah’s website claims that he met June 13 with senior Obama administration officials at the White House.

Nonetheless, it was the Obama administration which sought the meeting with Bin Bayyah, his website’s account said.

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WTF?!?! Obama Introduced at WH Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Event — By Third-Graders!

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Bisexual, Event, gay, Homosexual, Lesbian, LGBT, Obama, Third Graders, Transgender, White House

Nine year-old twins Zea and Luna introduce President Barack Obama at the White House’s LGBT Pride Month celebration Thursday, June 13.

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MULTITUDE of Media/White House Family Conflicts

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ben sherwood, claire shipman, conflict of interest, elizabeth sherwood-randall, family, jay carney, Media, White House

It’s all but a journalistic commandment: Thou shalt not have a vested interest in the story you’re covering. Otherwise, a personal entanglement could color a reporter’s neutrality or cloud public perceptions of fairness. An obvious area of concern: when a journalist’s relatives or spouse is part of the news.

So what to make of all the family ties between the news media and the Obama administration?

According to the news media, nothing much at all. News organizations say they’ve worked out the conflicts — real or potential — involving their journalists. But that hasn’t stopped a few eyebrows from being raised.

The list of prominent news people with close White House relations includes ABC News President Ben Sherwood, who is the brother of Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a top national-security adviser to President Obama. His counterpart at CBS, news division president David Rhodes, is the brother of Benjamin Rhodes, a key foreign-policy specialist. CNN’s deputy Washington bureau chief, Virginia Moseley, is married to Tom Nides, who until earlier this year was deputy secretary of state under Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Further, White House press secretary Jay Carney’s wife is Claire Shipman, a veteran reporter for ABC. And NPR’s White House correspondent, Ari Shapiro, is married to a lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, who joined the White House counsel’s office in April.

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CA Town Revolts Over Cost Of Obama Visit, Targets Donors

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Atherton, california, democrats, Donors, fundraiser, Obama, White House

ATHERTON (KPIX 5) – A community on the Peninsula may take the unprecedented action of slapping a lien against two homeowners who hosted an April fundraiser for President Barack Obama that cost the town $8,000 in security and cleanup costs.

The Town of Atherton has been unable to recoup the money from the Democratic National Committee or Secret Service.

“If the town incurs a cost that rightly should belong to somebody else, we’re going to pursue that,” Atherton Town Manager George Rodericks told KPIX 5.

The town sent invoices to the White House, Democratic National Committee, the Secret Service and two people who own the homes where Mr. Obama raised more than $3 million for Democrats. So far, the town has not received a cent.

“If we were to hold, say, a wedding here, and have to close off streets, we would expect the people that were hosting the wedding to pay it and I think the taxpayers would also ask for that,” Councilman Bill Widmer said.

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REP. ISSA: Carney is a ‘paid liar’

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Carney, issa, paid liar, press secretary, White House

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee blasted White House press secretary Jay Carney on Sunday, calling him a “paid liar” who is not being truthful about the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.

“Their paid liar, their spokesperson, the picture behind, he’s still making up things about what happened and calling this a local rogue,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” gesturing to a graphic of Carney on the set.

Issa’s committee provided CNN a transcript of an IRS employee interviewed under oath who said that it seemed as if the idea to single out conservative groups for additional scrutiny came from Washington. The Obama administration has maintained that local IRS agents in a single agency division have been responsible for the scandal.

“This is a problem that was in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters,” Issa said. “We’re getting to proving it.”

Issa said the White House is not being truthful or forthcoming about the scandal.

“The president’s spokesman – spokesperson – is saying whatever’s convenient at the time. The story changes,” Issa said.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

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IRS’s Shulman had more Public White House Visits than any other Cabinet Member

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Cabinet Member, IRS, Obama, Shulman, Visits, White House

FLASHBACK: Agency head visited Bush once in four years...

Publicly released records show that embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits than even the most trusted members of the president’s Cabinet.

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CBS News President and WH Official Tied to Benghazi Scandal — Are Brothers

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Brothers, CBS News, White House

One of the mainstream media journalists whose pursuit of the truth has been truly tenacious and nonpartisan is CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson.  Her tough reporting has made life difficult for everyone from Hillary Clinton to the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans.  She’s also been relentless on the Obama administration’s Fast & Furious gun-running scandal — and, of course, Benghazi.  As we mentioned this week, Attkisson’s tough investigative journalism is starting to bother unnamed CBS News executives.  Here’s Politico’s scoop, in case you missed it:

But from where Attkisson is sitting, there are actually two Goliaths, one of which is almost entirely absent from the Post profile. The second Goliath is CBS News, which has grown increasingly frustrated with Attkisson’s Benghazi campaign. CBS News executives see Attkisson wading dangerously close to advocacy on the issue, network sources have told POLITICO. Attkisson can’t get some of her stories on the air, and is thus left feeling marginalized and underutilized. That, in part, is why Attkisson is in talks to leave CBS ahead of contract, as POLITICO reported in April. Farhi mentions “internal conflicts” in the final paragraph, though he seems to dismiss them. The “internal conflicts” are indeed real — Attkisson is still eyeing an exit, according to sources — and provide important context for today’s piece.

My analysis of this report was highly critical of CBS News.  The network appears to be penalizing one of its best correspondents because she’s doing her job too aggressively.

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SHOCKING: White House Preparing for YET ANOTHER Star-Studded Concert

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Concerts, scandals, Shocking, White House

Amid sequester and scandal in Washington, the White House announced Friday that the president and first lady will be hosting another concert as part of their “In Performance at the White House” series later this month.

The event will be held in the East Room of the White House and honor singer and songwriter Carole King, who will be awarded the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. King will be the first woman to receive the award, the White House noted in their announcement.

The program — to be streamed on the White House website and broadcast on PBS stations the evening of May 28 — will also feature performances by Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Jesse McCartney, Emeli Sandé, James Taylor, Trisha Yearwood and King herself.

In 2002, Carole King sang “You’ve Got a Friend” for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at a warming-relations dinner in Havana.

“The Gershwin Prize commemorates George and Ira Gershwin, the legendary American songwriting team whose extensive manuscript collections reside in the Library of Congress,” the press announcement explains. “The prize is awarded to musicians whose lifetime contributions in the field of popular song exemplify the standard of excellence associated with the Gershwins.”

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