- Apr 2024
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www.washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com
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Kali grew disillusioned with President Barack Obama when he signed a 2014 law cutting $8.7 billion in food stamps — a benefit that she, her mother and two siblings relied on throughout her childhood, she said.
"When House Republicans originally argued for a food stamp cut of between $20.5 billion and $39 billion, the White House threatened to veto both of those proposals. During his Friday speech, the president did not say whether he was satisfied with the final $8.7 billion figure, or even mention the cuts at all. Instead, he praised the food stamp program and said that the final Farm Bill preserved much-needed benefits."
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- Oct 2023
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dhayton.haverford.edu dhayton.haverford.edu
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the Columbus myth is alive and well in the United States
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- Aug 2023
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Whatever work there is should have as much meaning aspossible. Wherever possible, workmen should be artists; theirwork should be the application of knowledge or science andknown and enjoyed by them as such. They should, if possi-ble, know what they are doing, why what they are doing hasthe results it has, why they are doing it, and what constitutesthe goodness of the things produced. They should understandwhat happens to what they produce, why it happens in thatway, and how to improve what happens. They should under-stand their relations to others co-operating in a given process,the relation of that process to other processes, the pattern of-them all as constituting the economy of the nation, and thebearing of the economy on the social, moral, and politicallife of the nation and the world. Work would be humanizedif understanding of all these kinds were in it and around it.
Is this the same sort of shift in work noticed by Barak Obama in his four part documentary series Working: What We Do All Day which aired on Netflix in 2023?
Politicians should focus here especially.
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- Apr 2022
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barackobama.medium.com barackobama.medium.com
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One of those factors is globalization which has helped lift hundreds and millions out of poverty, most notably in China and India, but which, along with automation has also ended entire economies, accelerated global inequality, and left millions of others feeling betrayed and angry at existing political institutions.
An awareness of other structural, economic issues that are weakening democracy: Globalization, Automation, Inequality.
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increased mobility and urbanization of modern life, which further shakes up societies, including existing family structures and gender roles
Another possible structural cause of weakened democracy, though I'm not sure how urbanization leads to a decrease in communal glue.
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chronic political dysfunction, here in the U.S. and in Europe
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What social media platforms have done, though, thanks to their increasing market dominance and their emphasis on speed, is accelerate the decline of newspapers and other traditional news sources.
So this is a different way social media has intervened in the constellation of issues here then right? So to combat this issue, we might take different steps.
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the veil of anonymity that platforms provide their users
Uh oh. Is this a trial balloon for ending online anonymity?
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very specific choices made by the companies that have come to dominate the internet generally and social media platforms in particular
The move to blame specific corporate social media algorithms.
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You don’t even have to look up. And it’s made all of us more prone to what psychologists call confirmation bias
Placing blame with users, as if only users were selecting what they see online.
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it did fortify a sense of shared culture and it came to the news, at least, citizens across the political spectrum tended to operate using a shared set of facts
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the sheer proliferation of content and the splintering of information and audiences
Structural effects of global digital networks: more content, splintered audiences.
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We’ll have to come up with new models for a more inclusive, equitable capitalism. We’ll have to reform our political institutions in ways that allow people to be heard and give them real agency. We’ll have to tell better stories about ourselves and how we can live together, despite our differences.
Obama's three strategies: better capitalism, better politics, better stories/communications.
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as once marginalized groups demand a seat at the table, politicians have found a new audience for old-fashioned appeals to racial and ethnic, religious or national solidarity
This formulation almost makes it sound like marginalized folks are to blame.
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the near collapse of the global financial system in 2008
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the rise of China
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At the end of the day, tools don’t control us.
Against technodeterminism.
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K-Monitor
"We Use Technology, Research & Participatory Action to Unveil Corruption." Visit website >
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News Literacy Project
"The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy." Visit website >
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MIT Center for Constructive Communication
"Designing tools, methods, and systems to understand and address societal fragmentation." Visit website >
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National School of Journalism and Public Discourse
"National School of Journalism (NSoJ) is a highly selective J-school that identifies and trains India's best journalistic talents. Our newsroom-focused curriculum, in-house digital news portal, expert faculty members and unparalleled industry connections prepare our students for successful careers in broadcast, print and convergence journalism." Visit website >
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the U.S. Constitution as software
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ways to give young people and the rest of us the chance to build up civic muscles
Call for civics.
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reinvigorate quality journalism, including local journalism
Call to improve journalism.
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online media literacy
Call to improve online media literacies.
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An interesting study came out recently
Preprint of study: Broockman, D., & Kalla, J. (2022, April 1). The manifold effects of partisan media on viewers’ beliefs and attitudes: A field experiment with Fox News viewers. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/jrw26
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these companies need to have some other North Star other than just making money and increasing market share
Will regulation be able to change the North Star?
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Platform Accountability and Transparency Act
PATA via Senator Coons website.
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European Union’s Digital Services Act
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tech companies need to be more transparent about how they operate
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regulation has to be part of the answer
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we need to consider reforms to Section 230 to account for those changes, including whether platforms should be required to have a higher standard of care, when it comes to advertising on their site
Possible s230 reform in advertising.
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Section 230 of the United States code
s230 first mention
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More importantly, these companies are still way too guarded about how exactly their standards operate, or how their engagement ranking systems influence what goes viral and what doesn’t.
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the need for some democratic oversight
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The problem is, we often don’t know what principles govern those decisions. And on an issue of enormous public interest, there has been little public debate and practically no democratic oversight.
Call for more transparency in social media algorithms, with a little threat of regulation.
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the First Amendment is a check on the power of the state. It doesn’t apply to private companies like Facebook or Twitter
Reminder to folks who misunderstand the reach of the First Amendment.
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I believe that in most instances the answer to bad speech is good speech.
Pretty close to a "marketplace of ideas" POV.
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There are some bugs in the software.
A solution that suggests some fixes to the existing structures will suffice.
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the transformative power and promise of the open internet
Putting the "open" in internet.
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New technologies are already challenging the way we regulate currency
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Russians could study and manipulate patterns in the engagement ranking system on a Facebook or YouTube.
This suggests there is enough transparency in social media algorithms to game them.
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the very design of these platforms seems to be tilting us in the wrong direction
Another call to focus on social media platform design.
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sophisticated actors from political consultants to commercial interests, to intelligence arms of foreign powers can game platform algorithms
Are there interventions that can be made with these actors rather than at the level of the algorithms?
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Annotators
URL
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pluralistic.net pluralistic.net
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Obama's Stanford University speech this Thursday
Read a full-text transcription of Obama's 21 April 2022 speech at Stanford University and engage in its annotated discussion.
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www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com
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in part out of disillusionment with the early promise of his presidency—out of expectations raised and frustrated
hm: another statement I'd need to think about or hear more about. How would we measure if there really was significant disillusionment from hope Obama's presidency raised? Sounds sorta right, but hard to prove.
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- Mar 2022
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www.merriam-webster.com www.merriam-webster.com
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/third-culture-kid
Third culture kids are raised by parents of one or more different backgrounds in a completely different culture. As a result they're not able to completely identify with either their parents' culture(s) or the one in which they're being raised.
Examples include Barak Obama, Viggo Mortensen, and Kobe Bryant.
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- Aug 2018
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When Russian forces delivered Asam al Alasam, the ISIS Supreme Leader in Iraq, to the American airbase as promised, he had an item with him they did not expect. Al Alasam had a nearly new, unlocked iPhone X. The phone was unscrambled and not secure at all, so it was believed to be a personal and family use phone. Still, the army chief engineer wanted it looked at. After nearly six weeks of unblocking text and manipulating code, they found a hidden phone list with direct numbers to some of the most powerful men on the planet. Al Alasam had Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau, Malcolm Reynolds, Sandy Batt AND President Dale Goff all on speed dial. Just knowing Sandy Batt is a crime in Russia.
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Annotators
URL
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- Jan 2018
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america.aljazeera.com america.aljazeera.com
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President Barack Obama, in his 2013 State of the Union address
President Obama believed that tools like 3-D printing would be very useful for things we do in our everyday lives.
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- Mar 2017
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Trump associates.
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www.thedailyiq.com www.thedailyiq.com
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Funnyman Jimmy Fallon paid wonderful homage to the legacy of departing First Lady Michelle Obama with a sweet tribute; he filmed average Americans recording goodbye messages to her
I wonder what Michelle will do next. I hop she stays in public life and continues to help kids
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- Feb 2017
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Organizing for Action, a group founded by Obama and featured prominently on his new post-presidency website, is distributing a training manual to anti-Trump activists that advises them to bully GOP lawmakers into backing off support for repealing ObamaCare, curbing immigration from high-risk Islamic nations, and building a border wall.
So much for Obama not interferring in the Trump Presidency.
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- Jan 2017
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www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
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Frankly, he didn’t move a lot from where he was. He did a lot of the things that he did through executive action and not through bipartisan legislation.
Oh yeah. Right. You know better than this.
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anyone
Insert "if" here?
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No, no, no, no, no.
Didn't watch live, but assuming there was a negative crowd reaction here to mention of the pending inauguration...
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For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back.
Foreshadowing? Is Obama calling out Trump as a one term president?!
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It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan — and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.
An interesting an powerful alignment of American military campaigns and the civil rights movement.
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- Dec 2016
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www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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“Because you don’t come up with the right answer if everyone at the table looks the same and thinks the same and has the same experience – you never come up with the best answer. So when you get these seats at these tables of power, your obligation is to make sure the conversation is diverse.”
Well said.
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- Nov 2016
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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At the school, Mr. Obama taught three courses, ascending to senior lecturer, a title otherwise carried only by a few federal judges. His most traditional course was in the due process and equal protection areas of constitutional law.
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.”
Not many presidents quote Faulkner!
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- Jul 2016
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And then there’s Donald Trump.
It was here that in delivery, after the crowd booed at the first mention of the GOP nominee, that Obama ad-libbed one the best lines of the convention: "Don't boo, vote!"
Given the jeers from "Bernie or Bust" delegates over the first few days of the convention, it was hard not to read the line as a broader rebuke to those who might sit this one out.
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or jihadists or homegrown demagogues
This is a powerful line (read: burn), basically lumping together Trump--the homegrown demogogue--and terrorists.
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www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
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www.npr.org www.npr.org
- Mar 2016
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www.washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com
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“But what we won’t do and should not do is take approaches that are going to be counterproductive. When I hear someone say we should carpet-bomb Iraq or Syria, not only is that inhumane, not only is that contrary to our values, that would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for ISIL to recruit more people willing to die and explode bombs in an airport or in a metro station. That’s not a smart strategy.”
I'm really going to miss this president.
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“The notion that we should have surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present — I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance,” Obama said of his stop in Cuba before arriving in Argentina.
Nice move.
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www.washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com
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The reality —as Obama learned in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. — is that impressive battlefield statistics and reasoned calls for restraint mean little in the climate of fear generated by terror strikes.
This seems to be the crux of the matter: doing what is actually right and what feels good: Obama aspires to the former, Bush to the latter.
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- Jan 2016
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www.whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov
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So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen. To vote. To speak out.
Absolutely, but it's government's job at all levels--from our hometowns to Washington, DC--to make it easier for citizens to do that. Far too many Americans simply can't fulfill many of these "obligations as a citizen," due to work, or kids or fear or lack of information, or school, basically, life. Government has to lower those barriers, make it way more possible for citizens to do their civic duties. There's a tremendous opportunity to deploy free, open source tools--heck, even proprietary ones--here.
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That’s how we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia. It cuts 18,000 taxes on products Made in America, and supports more good jobs. With TPP, China doesn’t set the rules in that region, we do. You want to show our strength in this century? Approve this agreement. Give us the tools to enforce it.
An opportunity to employ online, open co-creation tools. Such as, say, Hypothes.is. Or what the D.C.'s Mayor Bowser and city council are doing with the Madison online policymaking software.
Back when this was still being negotiated in secret, a leaked chapter of TPP was opened on the very first version of Madison. What could've been as far as harnessing open online annotation for transparent, smarter policy outcomes.
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how do we make technology work for us, and not against us
This is a critical question for both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and for every presidential candidate. But at least the President and Congressional leaders are talking about it--we've heard next to nothing from all the candidates for the White House, and next to nothing at all the debates.
I wonder: what happens to 18F, USDS, each agency's online engagement staff, etc. the day after a GOP candidate wins? What happens if the White House stays with Democrats? Beats me, and that's incredibly problematic.
Either way, Congress can and should also play a role in supporting--at least maintaining--the progress made on open source, adopting/creating better tech, outfits like 18F/USDS. Building out a Congressional-and-civil-society "tech transition survival" plan would be a great, bipartisan, bicameral project. I think it's also fully within the realm of possibility.
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- Aug 2015
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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we can become more perfect.
A not so subtle reference to Obama's famous "A More Perfect Union" speech), one the most famous of his career given during the 2008 election.
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- Apr 2015
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www.ianwelsh.net www.ianwelsh.net
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The children who thought that having a black president, despite the fact that he was, on domestic policy, worse than EVERY other democratic nominee, are why the US is so fucked right now.
Wow. Hadn't heard it put so bluntly before.
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Annotators
URL
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- Nov 2014
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www.whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.gov
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THE PRESIDENT: True. (Laughter.) And too often,
To hear the context for the gaffe "And that’s not a choice we want Americans to make.", start watching at the line "And too often":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sSO91Zv4uU&feature=youtu.be&t=13m45s
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The video of this speech is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sSO91Zv4uU
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