::THE SLICE REPORT WITH MONA AUSTIN

 President Barack Obama    Immigration can be a controversial topic.  We all want safe, secure borders and a dynamic economy, and people of goodwill can have legitimate disagreements about how to fix our immigration system so that everybody plays by the rules.   But that’s not what the action that the White House took today (September 5, 2017) is about.  This is about young people who grew up in America – kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag.  These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.  They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants.  They may not know a country besides ours.  They may not even know a language besides English.  They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.   Over the years, politicia...

buzzz worthy. . . - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION In times of steady calm and extraordinary change alike, Americans of all walks of life have long turned to prayer to seek refuge, demonstrate gratitude, and discover peace.  Sustaining us through great uncertainty and moments of sorrow, prayer allows us an outlet for introspection, and for expressing our hopes, desires, and fears.  It offers strength in the face of hardship, and redemption when we falter.  Our country was founded on the idea of religious freedom, and we have long upheld the belief that how we pray and whether we pray are matters reserved for an individual's own conscience.  On National Day of Prayer, we rededicate ourselves to extending this freedom to all people. Every day, women and men use the wisdom gained from humble prayer to spread kindness and to make our world a better place.  Faith communities at home and abroad have helped fe...

buzzz worthy. . .#stephcurry When the POTUS invites you to golf and drives the cart, you got serious game!   NBA, MVP Steph Curry is still winning in the off season. He golfed a  round while hanging out with President Obama who humbly gave him a lift on the green during the first family's annual summer vacation at Martha's Vineyard.  Beating out  LeBron James , Tom Brady and Cristiano Ronaldo, Curry  also won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Male Athlete! Curry once told a CBS sports reporter he practices golf during the off season and if he was  not a b-baller he would take at swing at the PGA. #winning Other VIP's joining the president for golf on his two-week trip  include Alonzo Mourning, Ray Allen, "Seinfeld” creator Larry David, former President Bill Clinton, UBS chairman of the Americas Robert Wolf and Cyrus Walker, a cousin of White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. 

buzzz worthy. . . "I just received a briefing from FBI Director Comey, as well as my White House team, about the tragic shooting that took place in Chattanooga today.  We don't know yet all the details.  We know that what appears to be a lone gunman carried out these attacks.  We’ve identified a name.  And at this point, a full investigation is taking place.  The FBI will be in the lead, working closely with local law enforcement.      We’ve also been in contact with the Department of Defense to make sure that all our D efense facilities are properly attentive and vigilant as we sort through exactly what happened.  And as details of the investigation proceed, we’ll make sure that the FBI, as well as local law enforcement are providing the public with all the information that's involved.       My main message right now is, obviously, the deepest sympathies of the American people to the f...

buzzz worthy. . . Would you be in favor of MANDATORY voting?  Mandatory anything seems foreign in America, the land of the free. Rights are  at the foundation of our democracy has allowed fr voitng as a "right". In a speech in Ohio on Wednesday, President Obama broached the idea of having mandatory voting, a method that is currently practiced in Australia. “It would be transformative if everybody voted — that would counteract money more than anything,” Obama said. By inserting money Obama is referring the large amounts of it that are needed to run for political office and the scrutiny that often comes with how campaign funds are utilized. The president continued, “The people who tend not to vote are young, they’re lower income, they’re skewed more heavily toward immigrant groups and minorities… There’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls.” The president was speaking in the context of money being a major part of politics. There was no indicat...

buzzz worthy. . . Today, in a statement and video message posted online, President Obama announced his plan for a free and open internet.  The president made his position on stricter FCC Internet regulations known w hile on a trip to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinpin.   The text of the President’s statement is below: *** An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life.  By lowering the cost of launching a new idea, igniting new political movements, and bringing communities closer together, it has been one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known. “Net neutrality” has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation — but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted.  We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas.  That is w...

buzzz worthy. . . As Americans, we believe that everyone who works hard deserves a chance at opportunity, and that all our citizens deserve some basic measure of security. And so, 50 years ago, President Johnson declared a War on Poverty to help each and every American fulfill his or her basic hopes. We created new avenues of opportunity through jobs and education, expanded access to health care for seniors, the poor, and Americans with disabilities, and helped working families make ends meet. Without Social Security, nearly half of seniors would be living in poverty. Today, fewer than one in seven do. Before Medicare, only half of seniors had some form of health insurance. Today, virtually all do. And because we expanded pro-work and pro-family programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit, a recent study found that the poverty rate has fallen by nearly 40% since the 1960s, and kept millions from falling into poverty during the Great Recession. These endeavors didn’t just ma...

buzzz worthy. . . By Mona Austin President Obama has escaped to Hawaii for his annual holiday vacay, but he is staying active on the isle of Oahu and keeping an eye on Obamacare progress.     On Sunday the family attended a college basketball game on the campus of the University of Hawaii. The  University of Akron Zips played the Oregon State Beavers , coached by first lady   Michelle Obama ’s brother,   Craig Robinson . The game was held on the campus of the University of Hawaii. After the g He started the day with a  sunrise workout at the gym on the Marine Corp Base at Kaneohe Bay, which included basketball.  In the afternoon he slowed things down a bit playing 18 holes of golf at Mid-PAC Country Club    at Mid-Pacific Country Club in the neighborhood of Lanikai, an exclusive residential area of Kailua where the President’s vacation rental is located.   Marvin Nicholson, Bobby Titcomb and Eric Whitaker joined him.   Be...

buzzz worthy. . . Statement by the President I’m pleased that with tonight’s vote in the Senate, for the first time in years, both parties in both houses of Congress have come together to pass a budget.  It’s a budget that unwinds some of the damaging sequester cuts that have harmed students and seniors and acted as headwinds our businesses had to fight.  It clears a path for critical investments in things like education and research that have always grown our economy and strengthened the middle class.  And it will continue to reduce our deficits at a time when we’ve seen four of the fastest years of deficit reduction since the end of World War II.  All told, it’s a good first step away from the shortsighted, crisis-driven decision-making that has only served to act as a drag on our economy.  It helps chart our economic course for the next two years, which means that the American people won’t be exposed to another painful and unwise government shutdow...

buzzz worthy. . . An FBI led criminal investigation has been opened in an IRS scandal that has sparked bipartisan outrage.  All of Washington is on edge, perhaps no one mores than President Obama. Attorney General Eric Holder launched the investigation after several conservative organizations became the targets of an IRS probe.  ( A Manassas Tea Party Group is among those targeted in the investigation.) White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has been working hard to ensure the public that his boss is not at fault and won't tolerate discrimination in the IRS .  In a 5/15 press briefing  Carney said " He expects the Treasury Department and the IRS to take all the necessary actions to ensure that this kind of thing cannot happen again.  And he insists that this happen because it is of the utmost importance, in the President’s mind, that the American people understand and believe that the IRS applies our tax laws in a neutral and fair way to everyone.  ...