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bama Goes Golfing After Terrorist Attack In Afghanistan Kills Six American Soldiers35319
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
by CHARLIE SPIERING22 Dec 20151666
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President Obama is on vacation in Hawaii, where he was informed of a terrorist attack in Afghanistan that killed six American service members.
The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle outside a U.S. military base, the largest loss of life of American troops in Afghanistan this year. The Taliban claim responsibility.
But the sobering news didn’t stop Obama from heading to the golf course, a tradition for the president as he enjoys the Hawaii climate during the holidays.
The president and three of his friends hit the golf course shortly after noon at the Mid-Pacific Country Club.
While Obama was on the course, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest released a statement in response to the attacks. “We express our deepest condolences to the families of the six U.S. service members killed and to all of those injured in today’s Taliban attack near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and their loved ones,” the statement read, adding that the United States condemned the “cowardly attack.”
Later in the day, Obama allowed reporters on the course to observe him make a chip shot on the 18th hole. After successfully making the shot, Obama raised both arms in triumph, and turned and pointed in the direction of the reporters on the course.
(AP Photos/Evan Vucci)
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President Barack Obama Sits Courtside for Bulls-Cavaliers Opening Night
By Thomas Duffy, Featured Columnist Oct 27, 2015
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Doug Mills @dougmillsnyt
Obama takes his seat court-side as he attends Bulls vs Cavaliers game in Chicago #Bulls#Cavaliers @POTUS
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he has skinniest legs of all of themComment
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Mele Kalikimaka: Taxpayer's gift to Obama is $470,000 a day Hawaiian vacation
By PAUL BEDARD (@SECRETSBEDARD)•12/29/15 6:20 PM
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The first family's Christmas vacation to Hawaii two years ago cost over $8 million, giving an indication of the price of their current 17-day winter break, according to federal documents provided to the taxpayer watchdog group Judicial Watch.
Added up, their seven vacations to the island could total over $50 million, and he still has one more likely as president at the end of next year.
From Judicial Watch:
Daughters Sasha, left, and Malia with President Obama, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Kailua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Judicial Watch announced today that it recently received expense records from the Department of Homeland Security revealing that Secret Service expenses for the Obama family vacation to Honolulu during December 2013-January 2014 cost taxpayers at least $316,698.03. These new expenses bring the total for the Hawaii Christmas vacation trip to $8,098,060.33. The Secret Service waited nearly two years to produce the requested numbers to Judicial Watch.Stay abreast of the latest developments from nation's capital and beyond with curated News Alerts from the Washington Examiner news desk and delivered to your inbox.
The heavily redacted records were obtained on December 28 in response to a January 6, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. According to the records:
-- $91,751.78 in car rental expenses were paid.
-- $224,974.05 in accommodation expenses were paid to Cabana Girl, LLC and Paradise Luxury Rentals.
The documents are heavily redacted and the Secret Service is withholding 28 pages in their entirety.
Saying he was "eager to skip town" Obama took his family to Honolulu on December 20, 2013, for a 17-day Christmas vacation. As reported by The Washington Post.
The presidential motorcade ferried the Obamas across Oahu, the state's most populous island, to the well-to-do oceanfront neighborhood of Kailua, where as in years past they have rented a private home for what this time will be a 17-day holiday vacation.
For the sixth straight year, Obama plans to spend Christmas and New Year's in Hawaii, gathering with extended family and friends — and, yes, perfecting his golf game.
In March 2014, Judicial Watch released flight expense records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that for this Hawaii vacation the Obamas incurred $7,781,361.30 in flight expenses alone (36.9 hours at $210,877 an hour).
This was the first Judicial Watch FOIA request about Obama's security costs the Secret Service has answered since July, 2014.
Last month, Judicial Watch separately sued the Department of Homeland Security for ignoring 19 other FOIA requests. The FOIA lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the Secret Service from continuing to withhold responsive documents from Judicial Watch (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:15-cv-01983)).
The known total expense to the American taxpayers thus far for allObama travel is now $70,880,035.78.
"It seems our lawsuits finally got the attention of the Secret Service. It is easy to see why the Secret Service, reeling from its own scandals, covered up these outrageous expense numbers for just one of Obama's luxury Christmas vacation," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The $317,000 in Secret Service expenses are only the tip of the iceberg for the true cost of Obama's 2013 vacation in Hawaii, which has now skyrocketed to $8,098,060. It is nice to know that Obama's 'tradition' of Christmas vacations in Hawaii comes courtesy of overburdened taxpayers."
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexam
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Obama Shrugs Off Criticism After Baseball Game, Tango Dance
Margaret Talev margarettalev
March 24, 2016 — 7:41 PM EDT
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U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro arrive for an exposition game between the Cuban national team and the Major League Baseball team Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Estado Latinoamericano March 22, 2016 in Havana, Cuba.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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President Barack Obama’s decision after the terrorist attack in Brussels to press on with his trip this week to Cuba and Argentina, including the colorful cultural events and elements of a family vacation, has come at a cost.
Some Republicans, who had been critical of Obama even going to Cuba, called on the president to return to the U.S. after the deadly bombings in Belgium. Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican presidential candidate, said Obama should have been at the White House organizing “meetings with leaders around the world.” Donald Trump, another Republican contender, used Twitter to mock Obama. The president “looks and sounds so ridiculous making his speech in Cuba, especially in the shadows of Brussels,” he said in a tweet.
Fanning the criticism, Obama reluctantly joined in a tango with a professional dancer at a state dinner Wednesday in Buenos Aires. A doctored photo circulated on the Internet of Obama and the tango dancer locked closely while Brussels burns in the background.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that while
the work being done on the trip was important, attending a baseball game with Cuban President Raul Castro and standing up with the dancer sent the wrong message.
“Baseball games and tangos, that’s inconsistent with the seriousness of the day,” Haass said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.
Obama shrugged off the criticism. He said allowing terrorists to disrupt attempts to build U.S. relationships in the world -- a counterpoint to the extremists -- plays into their hands.
“It is very important for us to not respond with fear,” he said at a news conference Wednesday with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri. “A lot of it is also going to be to say you do not have power over us. We are strong. Our values are right.”
Diplomacy and strategic interests aside, Obama tapped into his own memories of growing up amid the Cold War and of reading of the region’s literary giants.
In Havana, he said the Cuban Revolution happened the same year his father came
to the U.S. from Kenya and that the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred the year he
was born, in 1961. An exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and
Cuba’s national emphasized that the trip symbolized a new era. Obama sat next
to the widow of Jackie Robinson as one of his daughters chatted with Castro.
In Argentina, Obama also got to indulge his curiosity.
“I am proud to announce that I just tried mate for the first time,” Obama said
during his news conference in Buenos Aires of the caffeine-rich drink. “When I
was in college, I would read Borges or Cortazar, these people, and they were
drinking mate and I didn’t know what this was.”
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WATCH: Obama joins Stephen Colbert for hilarious post-Super Bowl edition of The Late Show
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SARAH K. BURRIS
07 FEB 2016 AT 23:47 ET [/COLOR]
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Barack Obama appears on Stephen Colbert's super game post-show. Photo: Screen capture
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President Barack Obama made a special appearance in Stephen Colbert’s Super Bowl post-game show on Sunday night. The segment began with Colbert throwing a football around to people around the globe. First, he threw it to Lt. Col. Christopher Landers and a team of soldiers that are serving in Afghanistan who revealed their 7-Layer dip was made up of salsa and six layers of sand. Next was astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station who tried to throw a spiral in zero gravity. Third was Chewbacca who, Colbert said, would make an amazing lineman. Finally, it was time for President Obama to appear.
The two exchanged a few pleasantries and talked about the game before Obama admitted that the whole thing was pre-taped ahead of time. Colbert said that he was obviously working hard to do a live television show and found it hard to believe that the show was pre-taped. That was until of course Stephen Colbert walked out next to Obama.
Somehow, however, Obama managed to congratulate the correct team for their win. “What?!” Colbert exclaimed. “This was a pre-tape! How could you possibly know that?!”
The answer is simple for fans of the “National Treasure” movies. “Stephen, I’m the President!” Obama explained “It turns out, all of the Super Bowl winners for the next 50 years are written on the back of the Constitution. That’s the plot of ‘National Treasure 3.'” Colbert couldn’t believe it, decrying that there is no “National Treasure 3.” But, of course, Obama has all of the answers tonight. “Ha! That’s what you think. There will be. The script is on the back of the Declaration of Independence.”
Obama attempted to throw the ball back but it made a hard left into another room in the White House where it hit the First Lady. She was not pleased asking who was throwing the ball in the White House. Obama pointed to Colbert and slowly backed away. The deadpan was fantast
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Hey Barrack Hussein Obama, don't let the door hit you in the ass. You pension check will be sent to you over in Kenya. Now stfu and go away!Comment
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fukk do I hate the view and Colbert
why u do this to me???Comment
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What is he supposed to be doing, Im confused.Comment
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Really? Why you hating on Obama? Bush was worseComment
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Biggest loser in American HistoryComment
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the guy giving the apology tour...importing terrorists...and so on.Comment
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Still stumped.Comment
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How did he not get impeached?Comment
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When a President is on vacation he should not do anything. Most people when they go to Hawaii for vacation sit all day in their room and watch sad stories on news.Comment
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