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Monday, January 21, 2013

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President Barack Obama takes to oath of office on Jan. 21 at the U.S. Capitol. This panorama is composed of 28 separate images stitched together with software. Use the navigation buttons to move left, right or to zoom. (John Makely / NBC News)
 
President Barack Obama delivers his second inaugural speech, discussing how as a country we will move together, and that "America's possibilities are limitless."
Standing before hundreds of thousands of witnesses, President Obama swore to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States"  as he took the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. The ceremonial Inauguration for the public follows the small event on Sunday during which President Obama was officially sworn in to start his second term.

Obamas on smart phones during inaugural parade

Even President Obama couldn't resist checking his smart phone during Inauguration festivities. Daughter Malia was also spotted seemingly taking photos on her iPhone. 01/21/2013 5:12 PM EDT

Obamas walk the parade route



President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped out of their limousine in downtown D.C., following the longstanding tradition of the president strolling for a portion of his inaugural parade down the city's main boulevard.
The Obamas stepped out of their car near the intersection of 8th Street and Pennsylvania Ave NW, near the US National Archives and Records Administration building.
(PHOTOS: Celebrities at inaugural events)
The first couple walked past the FBI building, before stepping back into the limousine before reaching Freedom Plaza.
Freedom Plaza is the site of one of the only authorized demonstration zones, where a strip of the plaza is designated a free speech zone.
(PHOTOS: Inauguration weekend 2013)
The Obamas again stepped out of their limo near the Treasury Building to finish their trip from the Capitol to the White House.
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41 sends his regards to 44

Former President George H.W. Bush couldn't attend President Obama's swearing-in ceremonies, but he released a statement Monday congratulating Obama.
"Barbara and I send President and Mrs. Obama -- and their wonderful girls -- our best wishes and prayers on this historic day. May Almighty God bless them and our wonderful country over the next four years," Bush said.
Bush recently was released from a hospital in Houston, where he was being treated for bronchitis, a fever and an infection.
His son, former President George W. Bush, also did not attend the ceremony. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were on hand for the inaugural, however.

Obama on first lady's haircut: 'I love her bangs'

President Obama offered his appreciation Sunday to supporters and urged them to enjoy the weekend's inaugural festivities, but also got serious.
"I love Michelle Obama," the president said at the start of brief remarks at a candlelight reception at the National Building Museum. "And to address the most significant event of this weekend: I love her bangs."
"She looks good, she always looks good," he added.
The first images of the first lady's new haircut emerged on Thursday, her 49th birthday, and the new style has garnered mixed reviews.



Michelle Obama goes sparkling, sophisticated for inauguration

 
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The Washington Post's Robin Givhan says that Michelle Obama's fashion reflects her personal interests and taste rather than traditional first lady attire, and that she's done a good job of not attaching her name to just one designer.
Michelle Obama wasted no time showing off her signature style on inauguration weekend, rolling out a series of polished outfits for events from the Kids' Inaugural Concert to the president's swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
The first lady stepped out in a sophisticated blue Thom Browne coat and J. Crew shoes for a visit to St. John's Church on the morning of Inauguration Day, accessorizing with a Cathy Waterman necklace. Browne, an American designer better known for his menswear, designed the coat based on the style of a man's silk tie.


Win Mcnamee / Getty Images
Michelle Obama arrived at the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday morning.

She then arrived at the inauguration ceremony sporting a bejeweled J. Crew belt, J.Crew gloves, Cathy Waterman earrings and Reed Krakoff boots. She offered a slight peek at her Thom Browne dress on the way into the inaugural luncheon, as well as a sweater by Reed Krakoff.
Experts said her style choices, particularly the fact that she sought out Thom Browne, show the first lady is a fan of fashion. "This is not a designer that you would wander into your local mall and find," fashion critic Robin Givhan said on TODAY Monday. "He's hard to find; he's very unique."
According to the White House, at the end of the inaugural events, the outfit and accessories will be donated to the National Archives.


Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia arrive at St. John's Church on Monday morning.
Her outfit was carefully coordinated with the first daughters, who dressed in similar hues. Malia Obama wore J.Crew, while Sasha donned a Kate Spade coat and dress.
Pool / Getty Images
President Obama takes the oath of office as Michelle holds the bible in the Blue Room of the White House on Sunday.
For President Obama's first swearing-in on Sunday (he will be sworn in again on Monday in a public ceremony), the first lady wore a navy blue Reed Krakoff Dress in the Blue Room at the White House.

Charles Dharapak / AP
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive to speak to supporters and donors at an inaugural reception for the 57th Presidential Inauguration at The National Building Museum in Washington on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013.
Later that night, she sparkled in a black sequined Michael Kors boat neck dress for an inaugural reception at the National Building Museum.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The first lady takes the stage with daughters Sasha and Malia at the Kids Inaugural concert for children and military families on January 19.
The first lady is known for mixing designer looks with low-key fashions, often alternating between high-end pieces and more casual clothes from J. Crew or H&M.
On Friday she opted for a more relaxed look at the Kids' Inaugural Concert for the children of military families, wearing a white Alexander McQueen shirt and black pants. The event was emceed by Nick Cannon and featured performances by Katy Perry and Usher.
All eyes have also been on Michelle Obama's most striking style choice this weekend: her bangs.
The president even addressed them at a reception to thank donors, saying, "I love her bangs. She looks good. She always looks good."


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New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor and Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles talk to TODAY's Erica Hill about how Michelle Obama's style (did you see those bangs?) and substance have shaped the first term of a remarkable first lady.

The first lady's signature style, from designer dresses to J. Crew.
New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor tells TODAY's Savannah Guthrie that White House insiders have told her they are surprised how disciplined the Obama girls have been in the public eye and that she feels the first lady will use her popularity to her advantage.

Obama jokes about relationship between Boehner, Michelle

Getting up to say a few words at the inaugural luncheon at the Capitol on Monday, President Barack Obama made a quip about the relationship between his wife and House Speaker John Boehner.
The first lady and Boehner were seated side by side during the lunch and did not appear very comfortable with each other.
"Michelle and the speaker of the House came to a meeting of the minds that I may be delaying the proceedings too much," Obama said. "And so I'm just going to be extraordinarily brief and say thank you."

Vice President Biden's remarks at the inaugural luncheon.  
01/21/2013 3:44 PM EDT



Reid's toast at the Inaugural Luncheon01/21/2013 3:33 PM
Schumer's inaugural luncheon toast01/21/2013 3:15 PM
Inauguration 2013: Pelosi toasts Obama01/21/2013 3:15 PM

Obama: Seize this moment together

 The 57th Presidential Inauguration
2013

2009
Launch slideshow                   
Festivities for President Barack Obama's second inauguration.

2013 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony Video

Jan 21, 2013


President Obama addressed the nation following his swearing-in during the public inauguration ceremony for his second term on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. In his remarks he stressed national unity and called on lawmakers cooperate with one another to confront issues such as climate change, job creation, civil rights, and budget issues, saying “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.” The ceremony also included the musical performances, a poetry reading, the oaths of office for president and vice president. 

Because the official inaugural day of January 20 was on a Sunday, the president was officially sworn into office in a private ceremony at the White House the previous day.

Inaugural tweet total: 1.1 million


Twitter sends out this accounting of tweets during President Obama's inaugural ceremony at the Capitol on Monday. They topped out at 27,795 per minute when Obama said "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."

Obamas attend kids’ Inauguration 2013 concert

First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters attend the 'Kids' Inaugural: Our Children. Our Future' concert in Washington Jan. 19 on the weekend ahead of President Barack Obama's second-term Inauguration. (Full story: Obamas join military families for kids' concert)


First lady Michelle Obama (center) and daughters Sasha (left) and Malia react during the 'Kids' Inaugural: Our Children. Our Future' event in Washington Jan. 19, 2013. | AP Photo 

First lady Michelle Obama (center) and daughters Sasha (left) and Malia wave to the audience during the 'Kids' Inaugural: Our Children. Our Future' event in Washington Jan. 19.
Michelle Obama speaks. | AP Photo 

Michelle Obama speaks.
Obama and daughters Sasha (center) and Malia react as Usher performs. | AP Photo 

Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha (center) and Malia watch as Usher performs.
Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and her grandchildren appear. | AP Photo 

Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and her grandchildren appear.
Obama (center) and daughters Sasha (left) and Malia walk on stage. | AP Photo 

Michelle Obama (center) and daughters Sasha (left) and Malia walk on stage.
Michelle Obama (right) and daughters Sasha (second right) and Malia (third right) arrive with Jill Biden (fourth right) , along with several of the Bidens' grandchildren. | AP Photo 

Michelle Obama (right) and daughters Sasha (second right) and Malia (third right) arrive with Jill Biden and several of the Bidens' grandchildren.
Members the cast of 'Glee' perform. | AP Photo 

Members the cast of 'Glee' perform.
Katy Perry performs. | AP Photo 

Katy Perry performs.
Usher performs. | AP Photo 

Usher performs.


Obama on first lady's haircut: 'I love her bangs'

President Obama offered his appreciation Sunday to supporters and urged them to enjoy the weekend's inaugural festivities, but also got serious.
"I love Michelle Obama," the president said at the start of brief remarks at a candlelight reception at the National Building Museum. "And to address the most significant event of this weekend: I love her bangs."
"She looks good, she always looks good," he added.
The first images of the first lady's new haircut emerged on Thursday, her 49th birthday, and the new style has garnered mixed reviews.

Faced with blindness, deaf twins choose euthanasia


A pair of adult identical twins in Belgium
 have been legally killed at their request, the men's doctor told journalists.

The 45-years-old men, who were born deaf, spent their lives side-by-side — growing up together and then, as adults, sharing an apartment and working as cobblers together, according to Belgian media reports.

The men’s names have not been released but photographs of the identical twins from the Antwerp region have been made available to some media outlets.

Their doctor, David Dufour, told Belgium’s RTL Television over the weekend that the two men had been losing their eyesight for several years and soon would have been completely blind. The prospect of being blind as well as deaf was unbearable to them, he said.

"They were fully aware of their decision," Dufour said.

After winning approval from the necessary authorities, the two men received lethal injections at a Belgian hospital in December.

Dufour described their last moments: "They had a last cup of coffee and everything was fine. They said goodbye to their parents and brother and all was serene. They waved — and that was that."

Under a 2002 law, Belgians are allowed to end their own lives if a doctor judges an individual has made his or her wishes clear and is suffering unbearable pain.

The case of the twins was unusual because the two men were not approaching the end of their natural lives nor were they terminally ill.

But Jacqueline Herremans, a member of the Belgian Commission of Euthanasia, told RTL that they did meet the legal requirements as their suffering was grave and incurable. When they became blind as well as deaf, he said, they would not have been able to lead autonomous lives, and that with only a sense of touch they had no prospects of a future.

She acknowledged this was an exceptional case.

"Evidently they had a particular destiny. They were two human beings who have lived together, grown up together, worked together and wanted to die together. Their suffering may not have been physical, but there was psychological suffering," she said.

In 2010 and 2011, a total of 2,086 people died by euthanasia in Belgium, according to the country’s Euthanasia Commission.

Belgium is now looking at introducing a legal amendment that would allow children and those with dementia the option of seeking permission to die. If passed later this year, the option of euthanasia will be extended to minors affected by an incurable illness, or suffering that cannot be alleviated.

Related stories:
Netherlands dispatches mobile euthanasia units 
Dutch riled at Santorum's euthanasia comments


The Dwindling Deficit

It’s hard to turn on your TV or read an editorial page these days without encountering someone declaring, with an air of great seriousness, that excessive spending and the resulting budget deficit is our biggest problem. 

Such declarations are rarely accompanied by any argument about why we should believe this; it’s supposed to be part of what everyone knows. 

This is, however, a case in which what everyone knows just ain’t so. The budget deficit isn’t our biggest problem, by a long shot. Furthermore, it’s a problem that is already, to a large degree, solved. The medium-term budget outlook isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either — and the long-term outlook gets much more attention than it should. 

It’s true that right now we have a large federal budget deficit. But that deficit is mainly the result of a depressed economy — and you’re actually supposed to run deficits in a depressed economy to help support overall demand. The deficit will come down as the economy recovers: Revenue will rise while some categories of spending, such as unemployment benefits, will fall. Indeed, that’s already happening. 

(And similar things are happening at the state and local levels — for example, California appears to be back in budget surplus.) 

Still, will economic recovery be enough to stabilize the fiscal outlook? The answer is, pretty much. 

Recently the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities took Congressional Budget Office projections for the next decade and updated them to take account of two major deficit-reduction actions: the spending cuts agreed to in 2011, amounting to almost $1.5 trillion over the next decade; and the roughly $600 billion in tax increases on the affluent agreed to at the beginning of this year. What the center finds is a budget outlook that, as I said, isn’t great but isn’t terrible: It projects that the ratio of debt to G.D.P., the standard measure of America’s debt position, will be only modestly higher in 2022 than it is now. 

The center calls for another $1.4 trillion in deficit reduction, which would completely stabilize the debt ratio; President Obama has called for roughly the same amount. Even without such actions, however, the budget outlook for the next 10 years doesn’t look at all alarming. 

Now, projections that run further into the future do suggest trouble, as an aging population and rising health care costs continue to push federal spending higher. But here’s a question you almost never see seriously addressed: Why, exactly, should we believe that it’s necessary, or even possible, to decide right now how we will eventually address the budget issues of the 2030s? 

Consider, for example, the case of Social Security. There was a case for paying down debt before the baby boomers began to retire, making it easier to pay full benefits later. But George W. Bush squandered the Clinton surplus on tax cuts and wars, and that window has closed. At this point, “reform” proposals are all about things like raising the retirement age or changing the inflation adjustment, moves that would gradually reduce benefits relative to current law. What problem is this supposed to solve? 

Well, it’s probable (although not certain) that, within two or three decades, the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted, leaving the system unable to pay the full benefits specified by current law. So the plan is to avoid cuts in future benefits by committing right now to ... cuts in future benefits. Huh?
O.K., you can argue that the adjustment to an aging population would be smoother if we commit to a glide path of benefit cuts now. On the other hand, by moving too soon we might lock in benefit cuts that turn out not to have been necessary. And much the same logic applies to Medicare. So there’s a reasonable argument for leaving the question of how to deal with future problems up to future politicians. 

The point is that the case for urgent action now to reduce spending decades in the future is far weaker than conventional rhetoric might lead you to suspect. And, no, it’s nothing like the case for urgent action on climate change

So, no big problem in the medium term, no strong case for worrying now about long-run budget issues. 

The deficit scolds dominating policy debate will, of course, fiercely resist any attempt to downgrade their favorite issue. They love living in an atmosphere of fiscal crisis: It lets them stroke their chins and sound serious, and it also provides an excuse for slashing social programs, which often seems to be their real objective. 

But neither the current deficit nor projected future spending deserve to be anywhere near the top of our political agenda. It’s time to focus on other stuff — like the still-depressed state of the economy and the still-terrible problem of long-term unemployment.


Bulgarian Assassination Attempt Caught on Video

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Is this what an assassination looks like? If this assailant’s gun had fired, yes.
  • Last Updated: 7:46 AM, January 20, 2013
  • Posted: 11:22 PM, January 19, 2013
He stared down death and survived.
In a bizarre and brazen attack caught on TV yesterday, a Bulgarian political leader in the middle of a speech found himself suddenly staring into the barrel of a gun inches from his face.
Ahmed Dogan, 58, reacted with lightning speed, surprising his much taller and younger would-be assassin by swatting at the gun, which appeared to jam as the attacker pulled the trigger.
Nearly 3,000 people were at the political conference in the capital city of Sofia when the attacker leaped onto the stage next to Dogan, head of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Party, which represents ethnic Turks in Bulgaria.
DODGING DEATH: Bulgarian political leader Ahmed Dogan, who represents ethnic Turks, fends off a would-be killer yesterday at a conference.
AFP/Getty Images
DODGING DEATH: Bulgarian political leader Ahmed Dogan, who represents ethnic Turks, fends off a would-be killer yesterday at a conference.
EPA
Video showed the attacker pulling the trigger at least twice, but the pistol didn’t fire.
Dogan then batted at the weapon and tried to push past his attacker and run, but fell in the process.
The gunman was quickly swarmed by other political delegates, who threw him to the ground and kicked and punched him.
Police eventually arrested the bloodied young man and took him to a hospital. The weapon turned out to be a gas pistol, which fires tear-gas cartridges.
Though usually considered a non-lethal weapon, gas pistols can be deadly at close range, experts say.
No one knows how the attacker, an ethnic Turk identified as Oktai Enimehmedov, 25, got past security with the pistol and two knives.
The burly Enimehmedov was wearing an ID badge around his neck.
Dogan has led the liberal MRF since its inception in 1990. His successor was to be chosen at the conference.
Ethnic Turks and Muslims make up about 12 percent of the population of Bulgaria, home to 7.3 million people, and have long suffered discrimination.
Enimehmedov, dressed all in black, has a criminal record for drug possession, robberies and “hooliganism,” according to Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.
No one knows why he attacked Dogan, who hours later returned to the conference unharmed, earning a standing ovation.