With less than a day to go until the election, President Obama pulled out the big guns, calling on Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen to perform at a rally in Ohio. President Carter opened with “Public Service Announcement” and changed the lyrics to his hit “99 Problems” (“I got 99 problems but Mitt ain’t one”) before introducing Obama.
About a week ago news spread that Jay Z and Beyonce were holding a $40,000 a plate fundraiser at the 40/40 Club for President Obama’s re election campaign.
Well, the big ticket dinner pulled in a cool $4 million…
During his address President Obama said Beyonce had been very generous with his daughters and that she couldn’t be a better role model for his children and thanked Jay Z and Beyonce for their friendship.
The President also joked about his bond with Jay Z telling the crowd,
“We both have daughters and our wives are more popular than we are. So, you know, we’ve got a little bond there. It’s hard but it’s okay.”
Michelle Obama was not present.
Both Beyoncé and Alicia Keys have stepped forward to pledge their commitment to President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Alicia Keys kicked off her efforts by heading to the Women Vote 2012 Summit on Monday in Philadelphia to talk about what this election year means women. Last week Alicia took her enthusiasm to Twitter telling her fans, “Women across America are fired up to vote for@BarackObama in 2012! Join me in Philly next Monday!ofa.bo/pAfVZv #Women2012.”
This is not the first time Keys has shown support for Obama, as she was a consistent supporter in the last election as part of the Vote For Change campaign, which enlisted musicians to get out the vote for our current president. Also, she recently performed alongside Mariah Carey at a re-election fundraiser in New York City.
Beyoncé is doing her part as well writing a a letter to the First Lady, calling Michelle Obama, “the ultimate example of a truly strong African-American woman.”
Adding to her support, Beyoncé read the letter she penned earlier in the year in a video released by BarackObama.com.
District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray faced additional calls to resign, a day after three councilmembers said that he should step aside because of the ongoing federal investigation into his 2010 campaign.
On Tuesday, a public relations consultant, Eugenia Clarke Harris, pleaded guilty to charges that she helped illegally steer more than $650,000 to what the U.S. attorney has described as a “shadow campaign” to boost Gray’s chances to unseat then-Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) in the primary election.
On Wednesday, three councilmembers, Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), David Catania (I-At-Large) and Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) called on the mayor to resign.
“Whether Vince knew or not, the legitimacy of the election was called into question by all this illegal money,” Catania said.
Says D.C. Republican Committee Chairman Bob Kabel:
“It’s time for the Mayor to do what’s best for the District and resign. The only way forward is with new leadership for our city. While it is still unclear if the Mayor knew about the shadow campaign during his election, the fact is, the Mayor did not disclose to the public what he did know shortly after the election. This is truly unacceptable.”
Gray told reporters Wednesday during a press conference that he had no plans of resigning. While he did not go into much detail about the allegations of a shadow campaign, the mayor said: “This is not the campaign that we intended to run.”
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Gray he knew the existence of campaign violations in January, when Harris said she met with the mayor in his fifth floor private suite in the John A. Wilson Building.
The disclosure of the meeting marks the first indication that Gray knew of undocumented funds before the federal raids in March at the homes and offices of Harris and business associate Jeffrey E. Thompson, who is believed to have funneled more than $650,000 in unreported funds to a “shadow campaign.”
Young Jeezy finally received a well-deserved nod from President Obama at the White House Correspondants Dinner Saturday night.
After being asked what would happen a second term, the president joked to the glee of the audience in attendance.
“In my first term, I sang Al Green; in my second term, I’m going with Young Jeezy,” the president quipped.
“My President” was the fourth single from Young Jeezy’s third album, The Recession. The album was recorded the day Barack Obama was confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee.
The song also features Nas.
In 2008, Jeezy told MTV that he never expected to be recognized by the president.
“I’m a street cat 100 percent, but there’s certain things I had to distance myself between too if I wanna lead the way for the rest of us, if I wanna spit that game back to the ‘hood,” Jeezy said. ” … I don’t expect Obama to come send me a thank-you letter for the song. I feel like he did his thing, and I did what I could to help.”
On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama did what no president has done before: He “slow jammed the news” with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots on “Late Night.”
Stepping in for regular news jammer Brian Williams, Obama slow jammed one of his policy positions over the smooth vamping of house band The Roots.
“I’m President Barack Obama, and I, too, would like to Slow Jam the News,” said Obama before taking his place on a stool and laying out his agenda.
“What we said is simple: Now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people,” Obama said to wild applause from the college crowd at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Fallon then stepped in to offer some slow jam support. “You should listen to the President,” he crooned. “Or as I like to call him, the Preezy of the United Steezy.”
Contrary to recent news reports, Swizz Beatz is not the CEO of controversial file-sharing website, Megaupload.com.
Ira Rothken, an attorney for Megaupload.com, made the revelation to RollingStone.com as he explained that, to his knowledge, Beatz “was never involved in any meaningful way” with Megaupload.com, but was in talks to helm the website.
“He was negotiating to become the CEO, but it was never official,” Rothken said.
The lawyer’s comments counter previous reports that listed Beatz as a silent, executive partner for Megaupload.com, which was shut down Thursday (January 19) after massive copyright infringement and racketeering charges were brought against the company and its top executives. Four of the seven defendants named in the case were arrested in New Zealand.
Other charges leveled at the Megaupload.com include money laundering and racketeering. The website stands accused of being complicit in costing copyright holders more than $500 million in damages, while raking in more than $175 million in illegal proceeds.
In protest of the Megaupload.com shut down, a number of major websites have been shut down by Internet hackers. Among those targeted were websites for the Department of Justice, the MPAA, Universal Music, and the RIAA. The FBI’s website, www.fbi.com is reportedly the next site on the list for Anonymous, a “hacktivist” group in Sweden that claimed responsibility for shutting down the Department of Justice website.
Megaupload.com is currently trying to get back online as it fights charges and works to recover from the situation.
President Obama has taken a stance against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a bill that would allow the justice department to force Internet providers and search engines to block all sites accused of copyright infringement.
For now, it appears that President Obama has stalled the controversial legislation. Read the details according to Forbes.com:
“The growing anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) support that has swept through the gaming and Internet community found a very big ally today. With websites like Reddit and Wikipedia and gaming organizations like Major League Gaming prepared for a blackout on January 18th – the same day that the House Judiciary Committee hearing on HR 3261was scheduled in Washington, D.C. – President Barack Obama has stepped in and said he would not support the bill.
SOPA has been delayed, for now. The House has agreed to revisit the issue next month, but they now know the White House will veto any bill that’s not more narrowly focused.
Much to the chagrin of Hollywood, the Entertainment Software Association (which has been a backer of the bill from early on), and Internet domain company GoDaddy.com (which lost many accounts as a result of its support for the bill); SOPA has been shelved. The Motion Picture Association of America, one of the bill’s largest sponsors, is expected to regroup.”
Michelle Obama has gone public with her side of the story on a recent book stating that she has had tremendous friction with her husband’s advisory team. A new book by New York Times reporter Jody Kantor describes Mrs. Obama’s relationship with the president’s team as being one that often results in friction.
The First Lady spoke with Gayle King of CBS News, stating that she is “not an expert on most of the issues that [the president] is dealing with on a daily basis.” She also says that she’s tired of being characterized as ”some kind of angry black woman.”
“I am one of his biggest confidants, but he has dozens of really smart people who surround him,” she said. “I want him and he wants to be talking to the people with the best information. That’s not to say that we don’t have discussions and conversations. That’s not to say that my husband doesn’t know how I feel.”
The recent Hawaii vacation taken by President Obama and his family has been officially documented as the most expensive in history. The fights alone will cost roughly $3.2 million. The total tab will run over $4 million.
The Airforce says that it costs $181,757 per flight to operate Airforce One. There is a nine hour flight to Hawaii if you fly direct, which runs $3,271,611 for a round trip. There is also an expensive cargo plane used to carry other presidential necessities, like limos, helicopters and other equipment.
There is a separate unit of Marines who fly with the president wherever he goes, costing $258,000. Finally, there is the cost of the Obama’s private residence on the island, which ran $3,500 per day.
The total cost of the Obama family trip is estimated to be $4,113,038.
Dre Black So Fresh 