Obama looms over divided Democratic primary

Obama looms over divided Democratic primary
By Max Greenwood - 11/28/19 07:58 PM EST
Quoted Excerpts:
Former President Obama has emerged as a key player in the Democratic presidential primary race.
He hasn’t put his thumb on the scale for any one candidate in particular. But in two different speeches this month, he has made clear that presidential hopefuls would be wise to avoid moving too far to the left if they hope to win back the White House in 2020.
His latest remarks came last week as Obama met with party donors in California, where he urged Democrats to “chill out” about the primary contest and prepare to rally behind the eventual nominee. But he also appeared to warn against calling for too drastic of change.
“When you listen to the average voter — even ones who aren’t stalwart Democrats, but who are more independent or are low-information voters — they don’t feel that things are working well, but they’re also nervous about changes that might take away what little they have,” Obama said.
“For him to weigh in, he knows that anything he says will be analyzed by the political media and the powers that be,” Gifford said. “But he can set a tone. The tone of this primary so far hasn’t necessarily been negative but it hasn’t been that positive either.
“He’s weighing in to unify the party as much as he can; to help out without being some sort of master manipulator.”
But Gifford, Obama’s former finance director, said that even the opinions of someone “as significant as Barack Obama” will not reshape the race in its entirety.
“It’s not as if he will move the needle tremendously,” Gifford said. “What he can do is help to establish a more healthy political narrative.”
Article Link
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/471962-obama-looms-over-divided-democratic-primary
Link To  https://thehill.com/

The Obamas Celebrate Thanksgiving with Family Photo of Michelle, Barack and Malia & Sasha — All Grown Up

The Obamas Celebrate Thanksgiving with Family Photo of Michelle, Barack and Malia & Sasha — All Grown Up
"From our family to yours, #HappyThanksgiving!" Mrs. Obama wrote on Twitter
By Sean Neumann November 27, 2019 05:53 PM 
Quoted Excerpts:
President Obama has been writing himself, with his new memoir possibly hitting shelves sometime before the 2020 election. He wrote a first draft on legal pads, just as he did for his first book, Dreams from My Father.
Neither Obama has endorsed a candidate — or even hinted at a preference — ahead of next year’s 2020 Democratic primary. The nominee will run against President Donald Trump.

Note:The article contains photographs. 
Article Link https://people.com/politics/michelle-obama-shares-new-family-photo-for-thanksgiving/
Link To  https://people.com/


Obama Family December 2016 Holiday At The White House

Obama’s Biden dig latest sign ex-president’s inner circle has doubts about his veep

Obama’s Biden dig latest sign ex-president’s inner circle has doubts about his veep
Ronn Blitzer   Wednesday,11/27/2019
Quoted Exerpts:
First, there was the persistent criticism of Biden's campaign from Obama's inner circle. Then, there were the lingering questions over why "44" has not simply endorsed his former vice president. Now come reports that Obama has made discouraging — even derisive — comments about his candidacy.
Obama has yet to endorse any candidate in the race, but Biden has said that it was his decision not to seek an endorsement from the former president.
Article Link  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/elections-2020/obamas-biden-dig-latest-sign-ex-presidents-inner-circle-has-doubts-about-his-veep/ar-BBXpgVZ?ocid=spartandhp

Obama warned he would intervene to stop Bernie, had cutting words for Biden: report

Barack Obama Published  Tuesday,11/26/2019
Obama warned he would intervene to stop Bernie, had cutting words for Biden: report
Quoted Excerpts:
"Back when Sanders seemed like more of a threat than he does now, Obama said privately that if Bernie were running away with the nomination, Obama would speak up to stop him," the report says. An Obama spokesperson, however, reportedly noted that the former president has stated that he would get behind the Democratic nominee regardless of who it is.
One adviser said that while they personally had no knowledge of this, the threat of a Sanders nomination would likely be cause for action.
Link To Article  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-warned-he-would-intervene-to-stop-bernie-from-winning-nomination-report
Link To  https://www.foxnews.com/

Obama takes veiled shot at Warren and Sanders, warns 2020 Dems Americans don’t want to ‘tear down the system’

Barack Obama Published  Saturday, November 16, 2019
Obama takes veiled shot at Warren and Sanders, warns 2020 Dems Americans don’t want to ‘tear down the system’
By Adam Shaw | Fox News
Quoted Excerpts:
Former President Barack Obama on Friday warned 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls to pay attention to what voters actually think -- warning that most of them don’t want to “tear down the system.”
“tear down the system.”
“The average American doesn't think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it. And I think it's important for us not to lose sight of that,” Obama said.
Link To Article  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-warns-2020-democrats-warren-sanders
Link To  https://www.foxnews.com/

Obama sounds off on cancel culture, 'woke' purity: 'That's not activism'

Barack Obama Published  Wednesday, October 30,2019
Obama sounds off on cancel culture, 'woke' purity: 'That's not activism'
By Ronn Blitzer | Fox News
Quoted Excerpts:
Former President Barack Obama took aim Tuesday at “woke” virtue signaling and cancel culture, telling an audience in Chicago that activists “should get over” their obsession with ideological purity tests.
“This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically woke, and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly," Obama said. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you.”
Link To Article https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-sounds-off-on-cancel-culture-woke-purity-thats-not-activism
Link To  https://www.foxnews.com/

The Obama Foundation

This place will be more than a look into a president's past. It will be a glimpse into a community's future. pic.twitter.com/dRL9XC5clM

— The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) June 15, 2019

Special counsel Robert Mueller: ‘If we had had confidence that’ President Trump ‘clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so’

Special counsel Robert Mueller: ‘If we had had confidence that’ President Trump ‘clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so’
Published Wed, May 29 2019  11:00 AM EDT Updated Wed, May 29 2019  2:21 PM EDT
Dan Mangan
@_DanMangan
Key Points
“If we had had confidence that” President Donald Trump “clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Robert Mueller says in breaking his silence about his 22-month probe of the 2016 election.
Mueller says that if he testified before Congress, as Democrats want, he won’t elaborate beyond his final report.
Mueller also says Russia “launched a concerted attack on our political system.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several Quoted Excerpts:
Special counsel Robert Mueller broke his silence Wednesday on his nearly two-year investigation, saying that “if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
Mueller’s statement to reporters at the Justice Department — his first ever in public since being appointed special counsel in 2017 — primarily restated the main findings of his investigation, which concluded three months ago after he submitted a 448-page report to Attorney General William Barr.
But Mueller pointedly talked about the lingering question of why his report did not recommend, one way or the other, that President Donald Trump should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice for allegedly interfering with his inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with Russians by members of the Trump campaign.
“We did not make a determination as to whether” Trump “did commit a crime,” said Mueller, who did not take any questions from journalists.
However, in his report to Barr, Mueller wrote that his probe did find “multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.”
In remarks lasting about nine minutes Wednesday, the special counsel cited a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president for a federal crime.
“That is unconstitutional,” Mueller said. “Charging the president with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider.”
However, Mueller noted that there was another avenue for dealing with a sitting president who broke the law. He said that the internal Justice Department opinion barring the prosecution of a president also “says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”
That “process,” which Mueller did not name, is impeachment.
His findings included his determination that there was a sustained, aggressive effort by Russian agents to use social media and computer hacking to help sway voters to Trump over Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.
“Russian intelligence officers who are part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system,” Mueller said.
But he noted that he also had found that there was not sufficient evidence to charge people affiliated with the Trump campaign with conspiring with Russian agents to affect the election.
Link To Article   https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/29/robert-mueller-did-not-determine-if-trump-committed-crime.html
Link To  https://www.cnbc.com/

A Health Care Question

In regards to medical and mental health care do you think what I have written below sounds or feels accurate?

There are the doctors, nurses, mental health therapists and those insurance companies making their decisions and policies.
                                     
There is the patient that is in the middle.

There are the law makers, politicans and pharmaceutical companies making their decisions and policies.

 

Michelle Obama’s Memoir Pays Off for a German Media Giant

Michelle Obama’s Memoir Pays Off for a German Media Giant

Stefan Nicola

Tuesday, March 26,2019

Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s best-selling memoir helped boost revenue last year at German media giant Bertelsmann SE to the highest in more than a decade.

Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House sold nearly 10 million copies of “Becoming,” the account of Obama’s journey from Chicago’s South Side to the White House. That helped lift Bertelsmann’s total sales to 17.7 billion euros ($20 billion), the highest since 2007.

“We believe this could become the most successful memoir ever,” Bertelsmann Chief Executive Officer Thomas Rabe told reporters Tuesday in Berlin.

The book’s strong sales are a boon for Rabe’s strategy to bet big on publishing after Bertelsmann bought a 22 percent share in Penguin Random House from Pearson Plc for about $1 billion in 2017, raising its stake to 75 percent.

Penguin Random House in 2017 agreed to pay a reported $65 million to publish separate books from Barack and Michelle Obama. The deal extended a relationship with the publisher that stretched back to when the two-term former president was still an Illinois senator.

“Becoming” continues to sell well and could become a “modern classic” that provides continuous revenue every year, the publisher’s CEO, Markus Dohle, said. Dohle said he hopes that Barack Obama’s memoir will be published this year and will sell similarly well.

Sales at Penguin Random House also rose last year thanks to a foothold in fast-growing markets such as India, the growth of audio books, and recent blockbusters including John Grisham’s “The Reckoning,” and political thriller “The President is Missing” by Bill Clinton and James Patterson.

Bertelsmann wants to increase the share of digital revenue across its units, including at broadcaster RTL Group SA, which is trying to build local video streaming platforms in countries from Germany to France. RTL’s sales rose 2.1 percent to a record of 6.5 billion euros.

Rabe said Apple Inc.’s push into video streaming doesn’t overly concern him because Bertelsmann wants to build top local platforms instead of competing for global audiences.

“The video-on-demand market is crowded," Rabe said. "Our strategy is local, local, local.”

Link To Article  https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/michelle-obamas-memoir-pays-off-for-a-german-media-giant/ar-BBVet4v?ocid=spartandhp