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First lady Michelle Obama is relying heavily on social media to tout an overseas trip tied to the Let Girls Learn campaign, which is aiming to get an estimated 62 million uneducated girls into school. Obama started a Snapchat account with help from celebrities including James Corden of "The Late Late Show," with whom she recently taped a "Carpool Karaoke" that will run at a future date. She's posting reports on her stops in Liberia, Morocco and Spain on hellogiggles.com, an online community for women. She referred in one report to the heartbreak of an 11- or 12-year-old girl told...

President Obama hit the road Monday on a nationwide gun-grabbing tour. His show doesn’t have many fans inside the Beltway, since being seen favoring gun control can be the kiss of death for senators with rural constituencies. So Mr. Obama is trying to shore up fence-sitting members by bringing his community organizing skills to their districts. --snip-- On Wednesday, Mr. Obama will be in Annapolis to address the Maryland Democratic Senate Caucus retreat on the same day that the state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee holds a hearing on expanding existing gun restrictions. Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley is pushing the General...

*snip* Mrs. Pritzker has bundled at least $904,957 for Mr. Obama. A former board member of the Marmon Group, the Pritzker family owns as much as 40% of Marmon while Berkshire Hathaway owns the rest. Marmon and Berkshire own IMPulse, a transit-manufacturing firm, located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. IMPulse received or directed numerous construction projects that received millions in taxpayer-funded stimulus money. Among others, those projects include: A $485.8 million contract that was awarded for the extension of the Metro Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) infrastructure project worth $67 million in...

America's police state: The drones are coming Friday, February 10, 2012 A new federal law accelerating domestic use of government aerial surveillance drones brings America frighteningly close to an Orwellian police state. President Obama is expected to sign the FAA Reauthorization Act, which expedites approval for federal, state and local police to use these drones. The Federal Aviation Administration's existing case-by-case approach is chilling enough -- it's being sued over its refusal to disclose publicly which agencies use drones and how they're used. Still, it's known that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection arm uses drones domestically....

As her husband celebrated his 49th birthday in Chicago with Oprah, first lady Michelle Obama was halfway around the world, on vacation with her 9-year-old daughter, Sasha, in Spain. The two are traveling on what the White House has described as a four-day "private trip" with several Obama family friends along the country's ritzy southern coast. Of course, no first lady's life is truly ever private, and already plenty of drama is swirling around Michelle Obama's foreign jaunt. Some critics have laid into the trip's price, while others are highlighting an apparent diplomatic gaffe between the United States and Spain....

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 5, 2009 WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Announces New Initiatives for Retirement Savings WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama will announce new steps to make it easier for American families to save for retirement. These new initiatives will complement the president’s major legislative proposals to boost participation in IRAs and match retirement savings. The new initiatives will: Expand opportunities for automatic enrollment in 401(k) and other retirement savings plans, Make it easier for more than...

Taxpayers liable in Janklow suit, judge rules Associated Press Published July 14, 2004 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow was on official business when he caused a fatal accident last summer, so taxpayers should pay any damages in a wrongful death lawsuit, a court ruled Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Arthur Boylan sided with U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger's conclusion that Janklow, 64, was on official business Aug. 16 when he sped through a stop sign near Trent, S.D., and collided with motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn. Boylan concluded that the federal government, not Janklow, should be listed...

WASHINGTON - The White House nominee to become the senior U.S. diplomat to Latin America has hit a bump on the road to Senate approval.A Democratic senator, Max Baucus of Montana, has put a ''hold'' on the nomination of Roger F. Noriega to serve as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere.A Baucus spokeswoman said the legislative move blocking further action has nothing to do with Noriega's qualifications. Rather, Baucus is using the ''hold'' on Noriega to pressure Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to allow an up-or-down vote on the full Senate floor for his proposal to relax U.S....