Q Obama carries inspiration around in his pocket http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2016/01/16/obama-carries-inspiration-around-pocket/ Jan 16, 2016 AAP US President Barack Obama has revealed in YouTube interviews he carries items in his pocket that inspire and invigorate him when he’s discouraged. When President Barack Obama feels tired or discouraged, reaching into his pocket can help him get over it. For inspiration he carries some of the keepsakes people have given him since he started running for office. He says that helps him cope on a bad day “because somebody gave me this privilege to work on these issues that are going to affect them”. The upshot: Obama realises “I better get back to work”. The president made the revelation Friday during separate interviews with three YouTube personalities. One of his interviewers had asked ahead of time for Obama to bring a meaningful item and talk about it. He was prepared. When asked, Obama pulled quite an assortment from his right pants pocket: rosary beads from Pope Francis, a tiny Buddha, a metal poker chip he said came from a bald biker with a handlebar moustache he met in Iowa in 2007, a Coptic cross from Ethiopia and a Hindu statuette of the monkey god Hanuman. Obama has too many of the mementos to carry all of them around “but I’ll pick out a few things … to remind me of all the people I’ve met along the way and the stories they told me,” he told Ingrid Nilsen of Los Angeles. She’s known as “Missglamorazzi” on the video sharing website. The interviews were part of a continuing White House strategy to reach different audiences and keep alive discussion of themes from Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Obama was also questioned by Adande Thorne, a video game enthusiast from Orlando, Florida, known online as “sWooZie”, and Destin Sandlin, an Alabaman who is into science and makes educational videos. Sandlin, who said he holds a civilian job at the Department of Defence, asked Obama to describe the characteristics of “Obamium”, a hypothetical element named after him. “I would want it to be stable,” Obama said. “I would want it to be a catalyst, but one that didn’t get too hot or too cold, and hopefully, it would be one that was useful to humanity, that we could actually use and wasn’t just some shiny object.” Obama said his favourite movie last year was The Martian, starring Matt Damon. He has not seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Asked by “sWooZie” who would emerge victorious if musicians Drake and Kendrick Lamar faced off in a rap battle, Obama chose Lamar. He said Drake is an “outstanding entertainer”, but that Lamar had the best album last year, titled To Pimp A Butterfly. Last year Obama praised Lamar’s song, How Much a Dollar Cost. UQ
Iran Releases 4 American Prisoners After Months Of Top-Secret Negotiations Jason Rezaian is coming home. VIENNA, Austria -- Four American citizens, including a Washington Post reporter, who have been imprisoned in Iran are set to board a Swiss aircraft Saturday from Tehran to an as-yet-undetermined location, where they will be freed as part of a prisoner release deal between the U.S. and Iran. The agreement is the result of 14 months of high-stakes secret negotiations between the two traditional adversaries. "Our citizens have not yet been flown out of Iran, so we don’t want to do anything that could complicate it," a senior administration official said Saturday. "But we are told the deal is done, that they will be let out." The deal will bring home fourAmericans who have been imprisoned in Iran for years . But to outside critics, who weren’t privy to the secret prisoner negotiations, the Obama administration had simply abandoned its own citizens who were trapped in Iran. Just a week before the prisoner agreement was announced, Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said he found it “appalling” that “there’s been no effort to try to support the Americans held hostage by the Iranian government.” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), whose party unanimously opposed the nuclear accord, accused the president of “sweeping these transgressions under the rug” and warned that “key members of [Obama’s] own party are also losing faith in [his] ability to confront Iran.”
Obama Just Got 4 Americans Released From Iran, But Republicans Are Still Criticizing Him They also criticized him for not doing enough to free them. Several Republican presidential candidates criticized the Obama administration's decision to swap seven Iranian prisoners for The Washington Post's reporter Jason Rezaian and three other Americans on Saturday. Some of them, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), accused the administration of not pushing hard enough for the American prisoners' release when the United States negotiated a deal with Iran last year. A group of 21 senators, led by Rubio and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last year to demand the prisoners' unconditional release. Kerry has said that he repeatedly pushed for the men's release during negotiations. On Saturday, Republicans said that Obama should not have given up Iranian prisoners because it made the United States look weak and that the U.S. prisoners should have been released without condition.
On Saturday, Republicans said that Obama should not have given up Iranian prisoners because it made the United States look weak and that the U.S. prisoners should have been released without condition. Shortly after the exchange was announced, Rubio said that while he was happy the Americans were coming home, the release would only encourage U.S. enemies to take more hostages abroad. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has also spoken critically of the Iran deal, similarly said that the United States should not have had to make any concessions to get the Americans released. Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz Praise God! Surely bad parts of Obama's latest deal, but prayers of thanksgiving that Pastor Saeed is coming home. Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson also praised the release of four Americans and attacked the Iran nuclear agreement. He pledged to withdraw from the agreement on his first day as president, if elected. Donald Trump also questioned the exchange, which came on the same day that sanctions were lifted on Iran, saying that Iran was getting more in the deal than the United States. "They’re getting seven people, so essentially they get $150 billion plus seven, and we get four,” Trump said in New Hampshire, according to The Guardian. Trump added that he was happy the Americans were coming home.
The Pope is visiting Washington, D.C., and President Obama takes him out for an afternoon on the Potomac, cruising on the Presidential yacht, the Sequoia. They’re admiring the sights when, all of a sudden, the Pope’s hat (zucchetto) blows off his head and out into the water. Secret Service guys start to launch a boat, but President Obama waves them off, saying, “Wait, wait. I’ll take care of this. Don’t worry.” Obama then steps off the yacht onto the surface of the water and walks out to the Holy Father’s little hat, bends over, picks it up, and then walks back to the yacht and climbs aboard. He hands the hat to the Pope amid stunned silence. The next morning, the GOP proclaims: “Obama Can’t Swim!”
Cristie said the Iranians have disrespected the President and that if he were president he would not take it ... actually Bibi has disrespected the President more than any other head of state while the gop cheered. The gop response proves once again that they are immature and have no clue about foreign policy, leadership or governing.
Iran has stated this is a prisoner exchange. I want to know who we exchanged for these four Americans. Western nations have been holding some Iranian terrorists associated with the Revolutionary Guard who have killed dozens of people. Have we given back dozens of dangerous Iranian terrorists for these four Americans?