Barack Obama

Will Gays and Lesbians Put On a Strained Smiley Face for Barack Obama's Visit to Los Angeles?

Queers UnitedU.S. President Barack Obama​Christopher Street West, the group that organizes the Los Angeles Gay Pride festivities every year, has sent out a mass email, telling gay folks to attend President Barack Obama's rally at USC on Friday to show their "power, passion, and purpose." We ... More >>

Poll Settles Debate Of USC vs. UCLA's Presidential Speakers (Barack Obama and Bill Clinton): And The Winner Is ...

JMRosenfeld via FlickrIn your face, USC.​We asked you recently who was getting the better deal: USC, which will host sitting president Barack Obama Friday, or UCLA, which saw Bill Clinton last Friday. It's a tough question: Obama is the most-most powerful man in the world. Clinton was a two-t ... More >>

USC Has Best Month Ever: Obama Plans A Visit, Journalism Gets $50 Million, New Prez Steps Up (And His Name Is Chrysostomos)

Sports IllustratedMaybe even better than Obama​The sun may not be shining, but the University of [Southern] California has more than one reason to beat its WASPy chest with pride this October. 1. Amid a slew of West Coast visits from top-billed politicians, USC snagged the No. 1 man on campus ... More >>

USC Is Getting Visit By Obama; UCLA Gets Clinton: Who's Getting The Better Speaker?

Bill Clinton is at UCLA tonight.​Those dueling visits by presidents Obama and Clinton we told you about have turned into another classic bout between archrivals USC and UCLA, and we have to ask: Which school is getting the better speaker? Obama is heading to USC next Friday (Oct. 22) to speak ... More >>

Presidential Overload? Obama, Clinton Visiting Los Angeles One Week Apart

Obama returns to L.A. next week.​POTUS overload, L.A? President Clinton is visiting Los Angeles Friday to whip up support for gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown. Then President Obama is back in town the next Friday raise funds for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who's defending her seat. After th ... More >>

In Shadow Of Obama Directive To Stand Down On Pot Shops, Feds Don't Publicize Medical Marijuana Raids Like They Used To

President Obama just said no to federal pot-shop raids, but they still happen, somewhat silently.​Federal raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Southern California, Nevada and elsewhere haven't ceased just because the administration of President Obama ordered federal authorities to stand ... More >>

DEA Raids Las Vegas Pot Shops; L.A. Party People Bummed

​Just this week marijuana dispensary backers were whining to the Los Angeles City Council about its tough pot-shop law (even though it's not even being enforced). They're lucky they're not in Las Vegas, L.A.'s own Jersey Shore in the desert, where the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Licks Chops Over President's $50 Billion Public Works Plan

​At least some people in Los Angeles were happy we laid out the red carpet for President Obama last month (despite the traffic his motorcade created). The prez over the weekend announced a $50 billion economic stimulus plan aimed mainly at transportation improvements. Few regions of the coun ... More >>

City Councilman Bill Rosendahl Wants A Report On How Street Closures Can Be Handled Better Next Time Obama Comes To Town

Bill Rosendahl.​It was the Great Traffic Jam of 2010. And no matter how faithfully they display their Obama/Biden bumper stickers, many Westsiders are pissed. When President Obama visited the Westside for a Democrat fundraiser Monday evening some of the area's main arteries, including Olympic ... More >>

Westsiders Experience Traffic Trauma In Wake Of Obama-Related Street Closures

Via Twitpic'Obama traffic' on the Miracle Mile.​Holy Obamanation: Westsiders haven't been this inconvenienced since Whole Foods ran out of almond scones in the Great Gluten-Free Shortage of '09. (The horror). Luckily, Westside street closures, including Santa Monica and Olympic boulevards thro ... More >>

For $2,500 You Can Rub Shoulders With President Obama At The Home Of Hollywood Producer John Wells

​President Obama will be in Los Angeles this month to help raise money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to Variety (via LA Observed). You can rub shoulders with the prez for only $2,500 when he meets with Hollywood industry supporters at the home of ER and The Wes ... More >>

Marijuana Advocates Want Michele Leonhart Out At DEA Following California Pot Shop Raids

Leonhart with Attorney General Eric Holder.​Despite an Obama administration directive meant to put a halt to federal raids of pot shops in states where medical marijuana has been legalized, recent dispensary busts, including one in Southern California, have prompted a group of cannabis advocat ... More >>

Desmond Tutu Criticizes President Barack Obama's AIDS Strategy

Rev. Desmond Tutu​AIDS Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein isn't the only person slamming President Barack Obama's AIDS strategy, which L.A. Weekly reported last week. Now Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has spoken out. "I appreciate that tough financial times require the ... More >>

Hyatt Workers, Still Without A Contract, To Do Street Action Next Week; Conflict For President Obama

The Andaz picket will look a bit different than this one, but you get the idea.​ Unionized workers at Hyatt-owned Andaz in West Hollywood and the Hyatt in Century City have been without a contract since December, and next week they'll take to the streets at the Andaz in what is sure to be an e ... More >>

Was George Bush's AIDS Strategy Better Than Barack Obama's?

AIDS Healthcare Foundation​AIDS Healthcare Foundation founder Michael Weinstein came out swinging yesterday at a Washington D.C. press conference, offering up that President Barack Obama's AIDS strategy measures up poorly to his predecessor's, former president George W. Bush. "The New York T ... More >>

Obama Lookalike from "Whoomp (There It Is)" Video Revealed to Be Los Angeles Rapper LA Sno

The domino-playing Obama lookalike featured in the 1993 video for Tag Team's "Whoomp (There It Is)," proved to be none other than Los Angeles rapper "LA Sno" Brown. According to Gawker, who were also responsible for spreading around the rumor/conspiracy/meme that the future president of the United ... More >>

1,200 National Guard Troops Heading To The U.S.-Mexico Border

The border at Imperial Beach, Calif.​The Obama administration on Tuesday pledged to put 1,200 National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a request by an Arizona congresswoman who complained about an influx of illegal Mexican immigrants. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Tucs ... More >>

Oprah Beats Obama To L.A. For High School Appearance

​Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale announced this week that it is one of six national finalists, and the only one west of the Mississippi River, competing to host President Barack Obama for spring commencement. School boosters are asking Angelenos to vote for the campus in the Whit ... More >>

M.I.A. Uses Pitchfork Tweets to Diss Pitchfork, Show Off Obama Ecstasy Pills Pic

M.I.A. was allowed to tweet from Pitchfork's Twitter account today. This is how she signed off: ​ Yes, M.I.A., we know. If you use Google you're a puppet of the Illuminati and the Lizard People. Right. (If you pay taxes you're probably more complicit with the government than if you look shi ... More >>

Get Equal Interrupts, Annoys Obama at L.A. Fund Raiser

Five members of Get Equal, a newly-established grassroots gay rights group based in California, interrupted and annoyed President Barack Obama as he spoke at a Democratic fund raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer at the California Science Center in Los Angeles last night.Patrick Range McDonaldGet Equal ... More >>

President Obama In L.A. Monday For Boxer Fundraiser

​President Barack Obama will be in Los Angeles Monday afternoon to boost the profile of a fundraiser for fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer, who is running for reelection to the U.S. Senate. Obama will be at the California Science Center at 700 Exposition Park Drive, said Boxer spokeswoman Sheila ... More >>

The White House Easter Egg Roll: Live Streaming With The President & The Easter Bunny

Although many of us played with Easter eggs and celebrated the start of baseball season yesterday, the White House will be officially doing both of those things today. This morning the White House is holding the 2010 Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn: watch the live stream below. And later today Pre ... More >>

Why Did Obama's Oil-Drilling Plan Spare California?

​President Barack Obama's announcement this week that he will open new swaths of the Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling in order to reduce United States dependence on foreign oil pointedly left the West Coast out, leaving some to wonder whether he aimed his drill bits at ... More >>

Making Faces: Playful Portraits of People You Know by Hanoch Piven

California's Health Insurance Woes Shape National Debate

​Los Angeles-based Anthem Blue Cross' recent attempts to raise insurance premiums among some of its customers by as much as 39 percent has drawn national attention and has likely given new life to the ailing health-care reform legislation being pushed by the Obama administration. " ... There ... More >>

Mark Bittman Weighs in on Soda: How Not to Drink Everything?

Is soda the new tobacco? New York Times food writer and cookbook author Mark Bittman asks the question in an article in the NYT yesterday. And he's got a very compelling case. Bittman points out that nationally we consume 50 gallons of the stuff per person each year, a ridiculous level that appears ... More >>

Prop. 8 Trial: Stanford Professor Says Obama 'Not a Reliable Ally'

President Barack Obama took a hit at the Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco on Wednesday, when Stanford University professor Gary Segura said Obama is "not a reliable ally" of the gay community.Then presidential candidate Barack Obama with Prop. 8 supporter Rich Warren​The criticism of the presi ... More >>

Let's Roll: Authorities Seize 'Obama' Ecstasy Pills

​We've heard of pills stamped with the Mitsubishi car symbol, smiley-face icons and even Snoopy. But E in the likeness of the President of the United States? Yes we can: Authorities in Texas arrested a man who they say had 200 ecstasy pills in the shape and likeness of President Obama in his p ... More >>

Making Chinese Noodles with President Obama A Recipe For Hand-pulled Kazakh Noodles

How cool is this? This photo, from the White House flickr photostream, shows President Barack Obama participating in a noodle-making demonstration with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The noodle experiment took place while Obama was attending a dinner at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, Chin ... More >>

The Freedom Tray: How to Be Patriotic While Eating Fast Food

If you're feeling particularly patriotic these days, maybe after listening to President Obama's speech last night, or because you've been following Sarah Palin's book tour (via bus to smalltown America, or private jet when nobody's looking), and want a way to integrate said patriotism into your dail ... More >>

Flea to Obama: "Give Me Your Pennies!"

​CNN recently interviewed Flea about his wonderful nonprofit The Silverlake Conservatory. The Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist gives a moving testimonial to the saving power of music education for children and teens. "I was heading for a disaster, I was on drugs, I was robbing people's houses, ... More >>

Obama Has High Tolerance for Pot, While L.A. Officials Keep Choking

This guy would dig Obama's stance on weed.​The Obama administration's decision to leave medical marijuana sellers and smokers alone, as long as they follow state laws, makes Washington look like the cool dad who lets the kids have their fun as long as they don't bring the cops to the house. Meanwh ... More >>

Details Emerge On Obama's Pot Stance

Just as a crackdown on the city's medical marijuana dispensaries is being set in motion, the Obama administration is calling off the federal fight against sellers and buyers who abide by laws in California and 13 other states that allow the distribution of doctor-approved pot, the Associated Press i ... More >>

Ozomatli to Perform for Barack and Michelle Obama at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Awards

LA band Ozomatli have stood on a lot of stages in their fourteen year career. They've faced 10,000 in Kathmandu, have been shuttled into a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan to perform, have gigged music schools in Burma, have done the Today Show. Next Wednesday, however, they'll play to what is the ... More >>

Obama 'Joker' Poster: It's All About Race

Ted Soqui​Was it something I said?Early last week I posted a brief blog noting the appearance of those "Obama Socialism" posters, in which the president's face is made up to resemble Heath Ledger's Joker character from The Dark Knight. That Batman-film derived image had been Photoshopped by Firas ... More >>

New Anti-Obama 'Joker' Poster

​A new poster depicting President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight has appeared in Los Angeles, according to rightwing sources. Blog posters to such online sites as American Thinker and Tammy Bruce are predictably in the throes of political orgasm. The poster ... More >>

Queer Town: Obama Still Avoids Prop. 8 at Beverly Hills Fundraiser

At a star-studded fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton last night, President Barack Obama still avoided talking about the California Supreme Court's ruling on Proposition 8 and full marriage equality. According to Variety's Managing Editor Ted Johnson, Obama made a brief remark about gay rights when he ... More >>

Queer Town: Obama Touts 'Equal Justice' in Vegas, Ignores Prop. 8 Ruling

Last night at a political fundraiser in Las Vegas, President Barack Obama made a pitch for nearly everything under the sun: better education, "change" in Washington, improved national fuel efficiency standards and a host of other things, even a plug for his new U.S. Supreme Court justice pick, Sonia ... More >>

Barry Obama, The Oxy Years

Republicans, who for a year have stared with dread at Shepard Fairey's idealized posterLisa Jack image of Barack Obama, seeing in his ethereal gaze the face of the Red Terror, must really be climbing the walls,  now that Time magazine has published photos of Obama taken by psychologist Lisa Jac ... More >>

Slow to Move, Obama Tickets Slashed

It's not exactly as though Los Angeles Democrats were forced to "paper" the house for their party leader's fundraising visit tomorrow, or offer discounted tickets on Price Line.com. Nor, on the other hand, has the event been a scalper's dream. Admission to a pre-dinner reception for President Barack ... More >>

This Week in Media WTFBBQ: This Internet's Dead Anyway

Maybe it's because of the looming Memorial holiday, but social media was kind of dead this week. Seasoned party crashers ourselves, we decided to see what the real media kids were up to. It turns out like everyone else in America they too were having a BBQ... a WTFBBQ. Here are our findings, separa ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Obama's Man in El Sereno Political newcomer Emanuel Pleitez, who's served on Barack Obama's transition team, is shaking things up in the 32nd District Congressional race. L.A. TimesMortgage Black Hole Located Ground zero for the nation's catastrophic mortgage meltdown was 4500 Park Granada, Calabasa ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Fewer Freshmen at UCLA The University of California confirms that, in a system already tightening the number of freshmen admissions, UCLA has the toughest 2009 entrance rates with the fewest number of new students admitted. L.A. TimesSupes Want Park The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved desi ... More >>

On the President's List: Obama Does Southern California

Edible Obama

Have you guys seen this? Speaking of sushi, even post-post-post election, the impetus to create Obamabilia is well and alive. This appears to be part of a bizarre and perishable sub-genre: Obama's likeness represented in food. On first look, the rice seems to be brown rice. But the other photos sugg ... More >>

Gutter Politics: What Happens on Leno Stays on Leno

The instant controversy swirling around President Obama's Tonight Show joke/gaffe about bowling as though he were in the Special Olympics is another indicator of the hypersensitive times we live in -- not so much because anyone from the Special Olympics even complained, but because, according UPI an ... More >>

Grumbling Continues Over Obama Bypass of Villaraigosa Aide

Yesterday the National Council of La Raza issued a statement expressing approval of a meeting between President Obama and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which NCLR president Janet Murguía called "a step in the right direction toward immigration reform." The group's previous statement, issued Mo ... More >>

Obama Visits Los Angeles, Leno and Orange County

If you're thinking of getting a glimpse of President Barack Obama, here's his itinerary from City News Service, and Yo! Venice offered a link to the signup sheet for attending the Town Hall (but alas, the seats are now all gone). It will be interesting to see whether the President announces any Los ... More >>

Watermelongate and Its Discontents

The past week saw the meteoric flaring and passing of one of those stories about race and the Obama presidency that have occurred regularly since the start of the 2008 election season and which will be with us until at least 2012. This one took place nearby, in Los Alamitos, and involved the mayor's ... More >>