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Michelle Obama Heads to Ireland for Two Days, Books 30 Rooms in $3300 per Night Hotel

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Photo Credit: The Shelbourne Dublin

Photo Credit: The Shelbourne Dublin

First lady Michelle Obama is sparing no expense on her trip to Ireland, staying at a $3,300-per-night hotel suite in Dublin.

Irish press reports Monday said Mrs. Obama and her entourage have booked 30 rooms in the five-star Shelbourne hotel. The first lady is said to be staying in the Princess Grace Suite, named for the Hollywood film star and princess who had an attachment to the room.

The suite has two guest bedrooms, a living room and a dining area, according to the hotel’s website. There are four phones, three large televisions, bedding of 100 percent Egyptian cotton, a Nespresso machine and butler service.

The cost of the two-day trip in Ireland and Northern Ireland has been estimated at around $5 million. U.S. taxpayers pay the cost of the first family’s travel.

The Obama family also will travel to Germany, where President Obama is to give a speech on Wednesday.

[Editor’s note: this Irish trip is in addition to the colossal $100 million that may be spent on the Obamas’ trip to Africa later this month]

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Loses Her Cool, Threatens to Leave Fundraiser After Lesbian Interrupts Her; White House Censors Exchange from Official Transcript

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Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images

First lady Michelle Obama’s speech at a Washington, D.C. political fundraiser was interrupted by a lesbian protester on Tuesday night, and she threatened to leave the event if the gay rights activist wasn’t forced to leave. But the official White House transcript doesn’t indicate anything about the heckler or Mrs. Obama’s audible reaction.

While the first lady was speaking to approximately 200 Democratic Party loyalists who paid up to $10,000 to attend the event at the swanky Washington home of a wealthy lesbian couple, the protester interrupted with demands that the president issue an executive order forcing federal contractors to stop discriminating against gay and transgendered job applicants.

Amanda Terkel, a Huffington Post scribe who served as the night’s ‘pool’ ‘reporter, wrote that the ‘[m]ost notable part of the event was an interruption from a protester about 12 minutes into the 20-minute speech. A pro-LGBT rights individual standing at the front began shouting for an executive order on gay rights.’

‘”One of the things I don’t do well is this,” replied FLOTUS to loud applause,’ according to Terkel. ‘She left the lectern and moved over to the protester, saying they could “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”‘

The crowd, the pool report continued, ‘started shouting that they wanted FLOTUS to stay.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Wants Textbooks to Swap Cupcakes for Apples in Math Problems

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Photo Credit: APFirst Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative is praising textbook publishers for “swapping out cupcakes for apples in math problems,” in a campaign to incorporate health information into the learning resources for kids.

“Today at the White House, we celebrated a group of educational publishers on their development of voluntary guidance to incorporate health information into textbooks and other learning materials,” Let’s Move! said in a blog post entitled, “Cookies 2 Carrots,” on Wednesday.

“Publishers are making simple changes, like swapping out cupcakes for apples in math problems,” the anti-obesity initiative noted. “They are also finding ways to include physical activity in lesson plans – discussing the history of little league baseball and using sports in word problems.”

Let’s Move! – a government initiative started by Mrs. Obama – aims to curb the obesity rate among children in the U.S. Mrs. Obama has recently expanded her campaign to museums and zoos asking them to change their menus, and also wants to “impact the nature of food in grocery stores.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Expands Anti-Obesity Campaign to Museums

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Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny StarrBy Elizabeth Harrington. First Lady Michelle Obama has expanded her anti-obesity campaign to museums, enlisting them to offer “healthy food options,” and change their menus.

Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative is now calling for museums, zoos, gardens, science and technology centers to “join the call to action,” to decrease obesity among children.

The first lady is recruiting these institutions to join the “Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens” project because of their power to “influence real and sustained behavior change” on the eating habits of kids.

“With their impressive reach and great potential for impact, museums and gardens can launch community efforts to create a healthier generation using interactive exhibits, outdoor spaces, gardens and programs that encourage families to eat healthy foods and increase physical activity,” the program said. Read more from this story HERE.

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HHS:’Telework’ Gives Gov’t Employees More Time for ‘Planning and Preparing Healthy Meals’

By Terence P. Jeffrey. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it wants as many as 20 percent of its workers to “telework,” use an “alternative work schedule,” or do both, in order to “reduce green house gas emissions,” decrease “employee stress,” and give these government workers more time for “planning and preparing healthy meals.”

So says one of the HHS “performance measures” detailed in an appendix to the department’s latest strategic plan.

HHS’s performance measure “4.D.05” says: “Increase the percent employees on telework or on Alternative Work Schedule.”

Telework means working from home via phone and computer. An “alternative work schedule,” according to the federal Office of Personnel Management means having “flexible work schedules and compressed work schedules.” A compressed work schedule means putting the 80 hours of work required in a two-week government pay period into less than 10 work days. Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Pushes Gun Control: “Every Single Kid Worries About Their Own Death” From Guns

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Photo Credit: Rusty DarbonneFirst lady Michelle Obama said that students at a high school just five miles from her family’s Chicago home told her that “every day they wake up and wonder whether they’re going to make it out of school alive.”

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that will air this weekend, the first lady said that when she met students after delivering a speech last month on gun violence, she was struck by the extent to which fear dominated the children’s everyday lives.

“I mean, every single kid worries about their own death, or the death of someone, every single day,” Obama said.

The first lady traveled to her hometown to advocate for new gun controls ahead of the Senate’s vote last month on a bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases. The vote fell five senators short of the 60 needed.

In the interview with CBS, Obama said that lawmakers have an “obligation to these kids” to try again.

Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Visited Saudi 'Person of Interest' at Boston Hospital Yesterday

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The well-known Saudi Arabian news site Okaz.com released a report claiming first lady Michelle Obama visited two young Saudi Arabian nationals — including one once considered a person of interest and who sources tell TheBlaze was being considered for deportation — in the hospital Thursday following the Boston attacks and reassured them of their health status.

Below is a screenshot of the Okaz report:

Steven Miller, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, translated the Arabic-language article into English for TheBlaze:

“Yesterday, Michelle Obama, the wife of the American President, visited the Saudis in the hospital who were injured in the Boston bombing, Abdul Rahman Ali Isa al-Salmi al-Harbi and Noura Khaled Saleh al-Ajaji, to reassure them of their health,” begins the article before explaining the students’ injuries.

“Noura al-Ajaji underwent a third surgery yesterday to repair and beautify the thigh area, just above the knee, treat skin damage caused by shrapnel, and remove fragments. This was the third round of the treatment plan for al-Ajaji; the first phase focused on sterilizing the wounds, and the second focused on healing the gash caused by glass shrapnel. Medical reports issued by the hospital yesterday confirmed the complete integrity of her knee and thigh.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressmen Push Back Against Michelle Obama's Scrawny Federal School Lunch Program

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Photo Credit: Getty

Republican Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas continued their fight against the Agriculture Department’s recent public school meal regulation overhaul on Friday.

The congressmen have argued that the new regulations imposed by the USDA, as required by the Michelle Obama-backed Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act, are overly restrictive for growing and active children, largely due to calorie caps on meals.

“The voluminous menu that’s good enough for the federal bureaucrats’ cafeteria should be good enough for our children’s school lunchroom,” Huelskamp said in a statement Friday. “If USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack thinks the federal government should dictate what local governments put on their school lunchroom menus, why isn’t he leading by example? Secretary Vilsack should impose his ‘Nutrition Nanny’ standards on the USDA buildings’ cafeteria menus before the USDA seizes control of lunchroom menus in 100,000 school districts.”

King and Huelskamp introduced legislation Friday that would repeal the regulation that imposed the meal mandates. Their “No Hungry Kids Act” would eliminate upper calorie restrictions on public school meals.

To see the viral YouTube that Kansas Students made regarding Michelle Obama’s “healthy” school lunch program, click HERE.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Michelle Obama Calls Herself a "Busy Single Mother"

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Photo Credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery

First lady Michelle Obama mistakenly called herself a “busy single mother” in an interview on Thursday with Burlington, Vt. CBS affiliate WCAX, before quickly catching herself and identifying instead as a “busy working mom.”

Discussing the struggle many parents face in balancing work and home life, the first lady reached for an empathetic tone, beginning, “Believe me, as a busy single mother…or, I shouldn’t say ‘single’ – as a busy mother…”

See the video here:

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Obamas Still Living The High Life Under the Sequester Cloud (+video)

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Photo Credit: Glyn Lowe Photoworks

It’s being reported that Adele and Beyonce have been booked to rock The White House on Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday. That should be some party . . .

It’s hard to believe that the politics of the sequester have worked out the way the Obama administration intended. Even their usually-reliable friends in the media have been skeptical, as this report from ABC News demonstrates:

https://youtu.be/RSfIi1SCz8I

Read more from this story HERE.

ABC Justifies Editing Out Michelle Obama’s False ‘Automatic Weapon’ Claim

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Photo Credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery ABC is defending its decision to edit out an apparently erroneous claim by Michelle Obama in its broadcast of the first lady’s interview on Good Morning America today, saying it made the changes “solely” for the sake of time.

As The Washington Examiner reported this morning, the first lady claimed during an interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts that 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed in Chicago shortly after performing during the President’s Inauguration, was shot because “some kids had some automatic weapons they didn’t need.”

In fact, Chicago Police reported Pendleton was shot by a man who “opened fire with a handgun before fleeing in a waiting car,” according to the Associated Press.

For the broadcast, ABC’s Good Morning America producers edited out the first lady’s “automatic weapon” line.

“She was standing out in a park with her friends in a neighborhood blocks away from where my kids grow – grew – up, where our house is. And she was caught in the line of fire. I just don’t want to keep disappointing our kids in this country. I want them to know that we put them first.”

Read more from this story HERE.