President Obama Meets With Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan To Discuss Syria

Obama, Erdogan Pledge To Keep Pressure on Assad -- Voice of America

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he and Turkish Prime Minister will continue to find ways to end the bloodshed in Syria.

“We are going to keep increasing pressure on the {Syrian] regime,” Obama said in a White House Rose Garden news conference after late morning talks with Erdogan.

Erdogan, an outspoken critic of the Syrian government he once supported, said there is “a strong cooperation that is ongoing” between Turkey and the U.S. “Syria was number one on our agenda today,” he said, adding that he talked with Obama about the flood of Syrian refugees into Turkey and alleged chemical weapon use in the Syrian conflict.

Read more ....

More News On Today's Meeting Between President Obama And Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan

Live Blog: Obama, Erdogan Hold Press Conference -- Wall Street Journal
Turkish prime minister, Obama discuss Syria’s civil war in White House meeting -- Washington Post/AP
US and Turkey agree on a Syria without Assad -- Euronews
Turkey, US agree ‘al-Assad should go for a free Syria’ -- Hurriyet Daily News
Obama and Erdogan meet as Syrian war rages -- AFP
Obama-Erdogan press conference: Free Syria from Assad's tyranny -- YNet News

Holding Up An Umbrella For The President Is Just Another Day In The Life Of A U.S. Marine

Hat Tip: Ethan Klapper.

Update #1: A better picture is here.

Update #2: Even CNN noticed that this is not a common sight.

Update #3: We now have video.

President Obama To Meet Military Leaders On The Epidemic Of Sexual Assaults

Obama To Meet Military Leaders On Sexual Assault -- USA Today

WASHINGTON -- President Obama was to meet Thursday with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the military's sexual assault crisis, the Pentagon announced.

The meeting is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. The military has been rocked by several high-profile sex scandals, the latest of which involves the investigation of a sergeant at Fort Hood who officials say had been running a prostitution service and sexually assaulted another soldier.

The other service chiefs and secretaries and senior enlisted officers will also attend the meeting with Obama.

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More News On President Obama Meeting Military Leaders On The Epidemic Of Sexual Assaults

Obama to meet with military leaders over sex assaults -- CBS/AP
U.S. military warns of sexual assault 'crisis,' to meet Obama -- Reuters
Obama to meet with military brass and Pentagon civilian leaders over sex assault -- Washington Post/AP
Obama to Discuss Military Sexual Assaults With Joint Chiefs -- Bloomberg
Obama to meet with military leaders on sexual assault -- Politico

What Washington Scandal(s)?

The Scandals Are Falling Apart -- Ezra Klein, Washington Post

Things go wrong in government. Sometimes it’s just bad luck. Sometimes it’s rank incompetence. Sometimes it’s criminal wrongdoing. Most of the time you never hear about it. Or, if you do hear about it, the media eventually gets bored talking about it (see warming, global).

But every so often an instance of government wrongdoing sprouts wings and becomes something quite exciting: A political scandal.

The crucial ingredient for a scandal is the prospect of high-level White House involvement and wide political repercussions. Government wrongdoing is boring. Scandals can bring down presidents, decide elections and revive down-and-out political parties. Scandals can dominate American politics for months at a time.

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My Comment: Summarizing Ezra Klein (who obviously wants to be the next White House Press spokesman) ....

IRS as a tool used to target conservatives .... no big deal. The IRS is an independent body ..... there are no White House fingerprints on this .... someone got fired (a Bush appointee) .... end of story.

Benghazi .... a tragedy .... confusion on who did the attack and why .... normal in the fog of war/terrorism .... but the White house could do nothing about it. We released a few emails to prove to the world that we were confused .... end of story.

Seizing the AP's phone records .... nothing illegal here .... besides .... the Republicans were complaining about leaks anyway .... end of story.

Sighhhh .... this is the course of U.S. politics and how a good portion of the media covers it today.

Or .... quoting the Roman satirist and poet Juvenal .... give them more bread and circuses.

Execution Videos Are The New Propaganda Front In The Syrian Civil War

Video Shows Islamist Rebels Executing 11 Syrian Soldiers -- Reuters

(Reuters) - A video published on Thursday showed fighters of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria executing 11 men they accused of taking part in massacres by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The film is believed to be from eastern Deir al-Zor province and dates from some time in 2012, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group.

The Observatory's head, Rami Abdelrahman, said the Nusra Front has recently been releasing several videos of their past operations. He said the man seen executing the prisoners in the video - a Nusra commander - had been killed in March 2013 in battles with local tribes in the province.

The footage shows the commander, his face covered in a black balaclava, shooting each prisoner in the back of the head as they kneeled, blindfolded and lined up in a row in the sand.

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Update: Executed as they waited on a pavement kerb: Terrifying assassination video of three men by 'Islamist rebels' shows new front in Syrian propaganda war -- Daily Mail

My Comment: This is the new propaganda front in the Syrian civil war .... brutal and vicious and broadcast 24/7 on YouTube.

Maryland Art Place announces two new calls for entry

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is currently seeking applications for a Regional Juried Exhibition opening in September 2013 and IMPACT 2013 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore.

CALL FOR ENTRY: RegionalJuried Exhibition

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is seeking artists working in a diverse range of media for a Regional Juried Exhibition, opening September 19, 2013. The exhibition is intended to explore the contemporary, cultural climate of Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Submissions will initially be vetted by MAP’s Program Advisory Committee and juried by Kristen Hileman.

My good friend Kristen Hileman is the Curator of Contemporary Art and Department Head at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Hileman organized Seeing Now: Photography Since 1960 (2011) and Anne Truitt: Perception and Reflection (2009-10), the first full career museum retrospective of that artist’s work.  Hileman oversaw a full reinstallation of the BMA’s contemporary collection in November 2012 for the museum’s newly renovated wing for contemporary art.  At the time of the re-opening, the contemporary wing featured a major site-specific commission created by Sarah Oppenheimer and an exhibition of Zwelethu Mthethwa’s photography.

Prior to coming to Baltimore, Hileman was the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.  She was also adjunct faculty at George Washington University and the Corcoran College of Art and Design.  Before her appointment at the Hirshhorn, she was the curator of the Arlington Arts Center, where she organized exhibitions of work by artists from the Mid-Atlantic region. Hileman received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Maryland, College Park (2001) and her B.A. in International Studies from American University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa (1995).

Please visit this website for complete submission guidelines.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Monday July 1st.


Harwood Art Center invites artists to submit works for consideration in "Disaster/Resilience," Harwood Art Center's 4th annual international exhibition program dedicated to the artistic exploration of contemporary social justice issues.

Learn more and submit your works here.