Perused President Obama's Eulogy for His Friend and Adviser

President Obama gave the commendation for a graduate school companion who exhorted him in the White House and kicked the bucket while sitting tight two years for a Senate vote to affirm her as diplomat to the Bahamas.

Cassandra Q. Butts, 50, passed on of undiscovered leukemia at her home in Washington, D.C., on May 25. She was an individual from a casual gathering of Obama counselors infrequently called the "Sisterhood" and served at one point as agent White House counsel.

Her arrangement as represetative was hindered for over 820 days by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton over disconnected political question with the President.

Obama gave the tribute at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 7. Here is a full transcript:


THE PRESIDENT: pleasant night.

Assemblage: pleasant night.

THE PRESIDENT: We are here to praise the life of our dear companion, Cassandra — a warrior for social equity, a warm and liberal worker who gave her life to bettering the lives of others, and a mind blowing companion.

I initially met Cassandra in a spot that has a tendency to feed one's interests for social and monetary equity — the money related guide line at graduate school. (Chuckling.) We were simply entering Harvard Law. We happened to be beside each other in line, I think it was in Pound Hall, and we were angrily rounding out our monetary guide shapes. I have probably I was accomplishing something incorrectly. She may have looked behind me and said, "I surmise that is off-base." (Laughter.) And we were crawling forward every time the recorder yelled, "Next!" We acquainted ourselves with each other, and we reinforced over the way that we were transferring ownership of our lives to Harvard, completely mindful of to what extent it would take us to pay off that obligation that we were going to accumulate.

And after that we fortified over different things. We reinforced over our adoration for jazz. We fortified over our fandom of Michael Jordan, since she was a Tar Heel and I was a Bull. We discussed our initial beginnings in municipal engagement, challenging politically-sanctioned racial segregation — her at North Carolina and me at Occidental. What's more, we discussed our enthusiasm for the law, why we were there — the idea that we may by one means or another take this information that we were going to extricate from this place an apply it to assist those on society's edges to enhance their circumstances.

I made a considerable measure of incredible companions at Harvard. Some of them are here today, similar to Judge Wilkins — who was more established and cooler than I was at the time and still is. (Giggling.) I don't think about more established, however perhaps still cooler. Be that as it may, Cassandra I depended on. I depended on her for insight and for consolation. I have an admission to make: despite everything I have a few collections of hers. (Giggling.) I believe there's a Miles Davis collection, a John Coltrane collection. I've been listening to some of that music since she passed. With all due respect, she kept one of my established law books. (Chuckling.) But I think I showed signs of improvement end of that exchange. (Chuckling.)

Furthermore, that was genuine for the most part with Cassandra. The individuals who knew her I think comprehended that some way or another, we were showing signs of improvement end of that exchange.

In graduate school, we'd lounge around and dream about how we were going to take what we realized in those lobbies and we'd go change the world. Keeping in mind we isolated for a period after graduation — her coming to Washington, me going to Chicago — we stayed in touch. I stayed aware of her while she was working in Congress and at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I conversed with her about the work I was doing as a social equality lawyer and a teacher, and I educated her concerning Michelle and all the trusts and dreams that we had together. Furthermore, from various perspectives, she served as an ethical compass for me. She was a consistent, relentless nearness.

Also, when I touched base here in Washington in the wake of winning my Senate race, I was 99th in rank. In any case, I had a mystery weapon, and that was, I knew Cassandra. (Giggling.) So I approached her for some guidance, and she, obviously, went more remote than that, helping me to procure a shrewd, committed group, helping me to get a discussion running with Pete Rouse, who had been the Chief of Staff for Tom Daschle and who had no motivation to need to manage some individual who was 99th in position. Be that as it may, some way or another she convinced him to bring a meeting with me and, as an outcome, we could assemble this momentous group of individuals, a significant number of whom still work with me today.

She helped me to arrange for what I may perform in the interest of the general population of Illinois. And afterward, in light of the fact that I believed that she didn't have enough to do, I'd send her initial sections of a book I was composing at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning just to see what she thought. What's more, we'd attempt to eat at any rate once every month, just to keep each other grounded — essentially for all her me grounded, in light of the fact that she didn't require help on that front.

I didn't know then that I'd keep running for President only a couple short years after the fact. In any case, when I did, I realized that I required her assistance. She was one of my most important utility players. She resembled a Swiss Army Knife — whatever you required, you could discover. Sufficiently shrewd to do pretty much any undertaking, sufficiently attentive to help other people venture in, finding the individuals who may add to our aggregate endeavors.

She was key in the primary days of my organization. Working with Greg Craig and others, she supplied our Justice Department with brilliant, committed lawyers. She fastidiously created our soonest arrangements so that all who work in the White House hold ourselves to the most noteworthy of moral gauges as managers of people in general trust.

Indeed, my first official requests, which she composed, reflected both of our perspectives that open administration is a benefit; that it's not about propelling yourself or your companions or your customers or your givers or some ideological motivation, it's about propelling the interests of each and every American. The compensation solidify for ranking staff, which made us exceptionally well known. The hardest campaigning boycott ever. A morals instructions on what's required of every one of us to ensure that we're putting the general population's interests over our own — a preparation, coincidentally, that I was the primary individual to get. Each of those approaches bore her touch.

Also, later, as my Deputy Counsel, Cassandra supervised a scope of ranges, among them the screening and determination of legal chosen people. What's more, she did that quite great, since she got one of the finest judges to consent to experience a troublesome procedure and turn into an exceptional Supreme Court equity.

In any case, her most enduring effect, at any rate in my organization, was simply being who she was.

Each senior White House representative in those first days — each and every one — needed to meet by and by with Cassandra. Each and every one. That is the amount of trust I had in her, in her uprightness, in her judgment, in her vibe for individuals. She was the individual I trusted to guarantee that everyone we employed comprehended the estimations of this organization, and drew nearer their occupations with the sort of polished skill and fairness and uprightness expected of anybody sufficiently blessed to serve their nation at the largest amount.

She knew I needed the best and the brightest, individuals with the same sort of honorable optimism that she and I had discussed late into the night every one of those prior years in graduate school. What we had envisioned may be conceivable — that legislative issues and government could be distinctive. That this nation could be better. That equity could be served. That it wasn't a channel dream, that it wasn't something before, that it was something that could really be accomplished.

What better individual to confer that message than Cassandra. What better individual to endless supply of us the thought that there's an option that is greater than ourselves, and that when you provide for others, and you serve others, and you do well by others, that that is the thing that tops you off, that is the thing that makes the most of your life.

Cassandra was one of those uncommon individuals you never needed to baffle, not on account of she was judgmental — she, truth be told, was interminably patient and pardoning of individuals' shortcomings. Also, she utilized that enormous, superb, profound giggle of hers to make you feel like, no doubt, everyone is going to commit errors and everyone is going to spoil. So it wasn't on the grounds that she was judgmental, it was on account of you felt by one means or another that she knew your best self — the individual you couldn't generally case to be, however the individual you would have liked to be. She saw that in you. What's more, I know she improved me, and I trust she improved us.

Also, on the off chance that you've addressed anyone who knew her well over these previous a few days, or any of the endless individuals that she took an ideal opportunity to guide, you'll hear the same qualities that we were searching for in those beginning of the organization connected to her in spades: demonstrable skill, tolerability, honesty, knowledge, smarts, amusingness, and a major graciousness. She was a kind individual. You know, it's fascinating, as you get more established, it turns out generosity means a great deal.

It's been conveyed to my consideration that, in her last months, Cassandra was taking a shot at an energy venture –-not adjusting the games autos she wanted to drive — (giggling) — however, rather, financing grants for underprivileged secondary school kids who need to set off for college to think about expressions of the human experience. What's more, that shocked no one. That is the sort of thing she'd do.

As a general public, we have an awful propensity to commend our loved ones just once they are no more. So it is a demonstration of Cassandra, to the life that she lived and imparted to us, that such a variety of individuals commended her while she was still here. I do wish I had seen her more this previous year. I know she would excuse me and grin, and solace me, and let me know not to feel excessively remorseful — in light of the fact that that is who she was.

What's more, I'd like to close my comments on that note, by rewording something that is stayed with me from a piece I read about her last week. It closed by saying that Cassandra is made due by her mom, who lives in North Carolina; by her f

Six approaches to dress for a sunless summer

Make the downpour hat your style embellishment 

Christopher Kane is the man who can transform the most everyday and frump things into high-form holding up rundown commendable outlines. He's done it including knit to link ties. This season, it's the turn of the downpour hood – AKA those plastic head defenders sold in 80s beauticians to ladies who had recently had their hair set and would not like to get got in the downpour. Models at his harvest time/winter catwalk show wore them, frequently over wet hair, which may have confounded perfectionists, for example, Dot Cotton. Accessible for under £2 for three, keep one in your pack rather than an umbrella – it's significantly more alpha to those aware of present circumstances. This is design incongruity taking care of business. 

Go for a beneath the-knee hemline 

Drilled sun admirers will be now on this, however for the uninitiated: if there's still a chill noticeable all around, anything over the knee without tights is liable to bring about blue legs. Be that as it may, all is not lost. Midi-length, trimmed trousers or even pants with frayed stride stitches thoroughly work and – to shifting degrees – mean an early summer tan (earned in a nation where the sun really sparkles) can be flaunted. Kirsten Dunst wore a midi creased dress for an appearance in London in April, a month when, as Prince sang, it at times snows. 

Wear a plastic macintosh with pride 

Adele favors the sort of charm spearheaded by Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black in the 60s: major hair, sequins and a lotta, lotta eyelashes. However, on holiday she has a simple mum look of dark tracksuit trousers, Converse and surrey packed with shopping sacks. These two met up at a gig in Italy this week, when a downpour shower implied she shrugged on a plastic macintosh over her sequinned Burberry dress in a move that was useful and sort of marvelous. Disregard a Barbour over a ballgown; the sunless summer is about the plastic macintosh. Keep in mind to expel if the sun comes out – nobody likes overheating. 

Channel Sienna Miller and Kiera Knightley in The Edge of 

Love 

Mill operator and Knightley, playing Caitlin Thomas and Vera Phillips, wear an extremely British variant of summer garments at a house in the properly named Cardigan Bay: flower tea dresses, wellington boots, knee-high socks and stout cardies. This is a look that works pretty much too today as it did in the 40s – those dim skies still need a touch of propping cheer, and tea dresses are presently a true blue British summer great. See the pansy printed dress in Kate Moss' first Topshop gathering, now doing a quick exchange on eBay, and the cleaved up florals found at Finery. Add a vintage cardigan to see you through this current summer's cold wedding gatherings in style.

Maintain a strategic distance from shoes 

Avoid sandals

Who needs wet toes? Sliders and feathery donkeys are all extremely well yet when there's even a shot of downpour, they're best left at home. That doesn't mean there can't be grins when looking down at your feet. The Stan Smith is still a thing, with varieties including stopper and python soles, or something chunkier, when worn with exposed legs, gives that 'I went to raves in the 90s' look. The Reebok Insta Pump Fury, as affirmed by Vetements planner Demna Gvasalia, is back, and Rihanna's take a gander at her Fenty x Puma show – coaches in addition to legs in addition to hoody – is perfect for dark summer days. 

40% of U.S. Ladies Are Now Obese

New numbers show weight in the United States are high, particularly among ladies

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The quantity of Americans who are overweight or hefty keeps on achieving stunning highs, with some gauges that more than 66% of American grown-ups are presently overweight or fat. Presently, another study uncovers that while weight rates in men have leveled, rates have kept on ascending among women.The study, distributed Tuesday in the diary JAMA, uncovers that for the years 2013-2014, the heftiness pervasiveness was 35% for men and 40% for ladies. At the point when taking a gander at patterns after some time, the specialists found that from the year 2005 to 2014 there were noteworthy and consistent expansions in the quantity of American ladies who were exceptionally corpulent.

Another concentrate likewise distributed Tuesday in JAMA by large portions of the same scientists uncovered that in the course of the most recent 25 years, there has been a slight increment in corpulence among youngsters ages 12 to 19. The commonness of weight among children ages 2 to 5 has gone down, and it has leveled off in children ages 6 to 11."The stoutness pestilence in the United States is presently three decades old, and tremendous ventures have been made in exploration, clinical consideration, and improvement of different projects to check heftiness. Be that as it may, couple of information recommend the scourge is lessening," Dr. Jody W. Zylke, the representative editorial manager of JAMA and Dr. Howard Bauchner, the Editor in Chief of JAMA, wrote in a comparing article.

To achieve the discoveries, study creators from the National Center for Health Statistics at the U.S. Places for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took a gander at 2013-2014 information for 2,638 grown-up men and 2,817 grown-up ladies. They likewise took a gander at national overview information from 21,013 individuals who were met from 2005 through 2012.

The quantity of grown-ups with a body mass record (BMI) of 40 or higher, which is viewed as high-hazard heftiness, was 7.7%. For men particularly it was 5.5% and for ladies it was 9.9%. BMI is not an immaculate measure of wellbeing and depends on a man's weight and stature proportion as opposed to their real measure of muscle to fat quotients. Still, the numbers are in accordance with what different studies have reported in regards to the condition of the weight plague in the United States.

In the article, Zylke and Bauchner contend that advance in the course of the most recent 30 years has been extremely moderate, and that new strategies may should be embraced: "Maybe it is the ideal opportunity for a completely diverse methodology, one that underscores joint effort with the sustenance and eatery commercial ventures that are to some extent in charge of putting nourishment on supper tables," they compose.

Will These Silicon Valley Lab-Grown Diamonds Change the Way We Say "I Do"?

I need to concede I didn't see it coming. My long-term sweetheart inquired as to whether I needed to take the puppy for a walk, and I put on the sort of vague edited jeans you may wear in the event that you'd simply return from an overindulgent excursion or had as of late taken up karate. It was odd that he needed to make a beeline for the trenches, which aren't near our condo here in Venice, California, odder still that we seemed, by all accounts, to be meandering around indiscriminately oblivious. I noticed when he waited on a pleasant extension, and afterward—engagement stories dependably stop here—he demonstrated to me the ring.

What does it resemble? Is it accurate to say that you were included in its configuration? Will it be a late spring wedding, and would you be able to check me down for the ocean bass? I've gotten talented at noting all the inquiries. The ring is an Irene Neuwirth plan with a rose-cut jewel that untruths flush against my hand in a gold-and-pavé setting. Also, in spite of my well deserved New York pessimism, at whatever point I discuss it, and about the amount I cherish my life partner for knowing me so well, my voice tackles a clue of spout.

The stories that we tell about precious stones, and that the jewel business lets us know, have ended up as continuing as the substance itself. It's one of the hardest materials on Earth—and a definitive motion of affection. Be that as it may, for a few, the story doesn't begin with a trek to Cartier or stealthy meetings with an old fashioned gem dealer, however in a lab where, on account of bleeding edge science, the jewel was developed.

Manufactured, or refined, jewels are not new. They have been made for a considerable length of time, initially created for General Electric in 1954 for mechanical purposes and by the 1990s achieving pearl grade status among select makers. Their rising cachet has a straightforward clarification: provenance. The production network in the precious stone industry has for some time been connected with strife and ecological harm, to a great extent brought into people in general cognizance by the 2006 film Blood Diamond. The Kimberley Process, which set prerequisites for ensuring precious stones "struggle free," became effective in 2003, yet in a universe of progressively sensible shoppers, the untraceable status of so a considerable lot of the world's jewels stays troublesome.

So it was news a year ago when Blood Diamond star Leonardo DiCaprio (alongside ten extremely rich people) put resources into Bay Area start-up Diamond Foundry, which had built up a procedure for creating splendidly clear, dismal, jewel quality stones. The organization was established by Austrian-American business person R. Martin Roscheisen, a sunlight based board pioneer of the early aughts, Stanford alum, and all-around varsity individual from Silicon Valley. "The precious stone industry is a $85 billion endeavor that resemble the auto business was three years prior," he lets me know from a stripped down gathering room at Diamond Foundry's San Carlos office. "It needs a mechanical reminder."

Here is the means by which it works: Diamond Foundry begins with a harsh, earth-extricated Canadian precious stone and takes a wafer-size cut of it—around 7 mm by 7 mm. This is set in a hydrogen plasma reactor that emulates the conditions on the external center of the sun ("We've made the sun on Earth!" says Roscheisen, who is disorderly, sharp, certain, and inclined to the periodic inspiration of Silicon Valley demigod society). Include gasses like carbon dioxide and methane inside the reactor, and iota by particle a gem cross section is fabricated. To see a cut-and-cleaned refined precious stone is to see, well, a jewel: It shines splendidly, it refracts light, it is dry and clear.

The procedure takes two weeks, Roscheisen clarifies as we advance into the enormous generation room murmuring with white reactor machines. Since the smallest glitch can influence a whole clump, the reactors are observed continually. "Individuals are eating eggs Benedict at early lunch at this moment and minding them from their iPhones," he guarantees me.

Are synthetics the same as regular jewels? As per the Gemological Institute of America, a lab-developed precious stone is tangibly a jewel and can be assessed utilizing about the same benchmarks of cut, clarity, carat, shading, and other specialized markers. But is there a world in which, on the off chance that I were getting drawn in once more, I'd need my stroll by the Venice Canals to end with a precious stone sourced only six hours north of where I live? Perhaps. Refined precious stones are wonderful, with a great provenance—however I'll concede that the way that enhanced efficiencies in the way they're developed may in the long run make them less costly gives me delay. "I'd be interested in it, yet I'd kind of feel like I need to legitimize it if individuals ever asked, which may put on a show of being vainglorious," said my companion. Another let me know she'd completely be intrigued. "A precious stone that accompanies an unmistakable inner voice? Sign me up."

To hear it from the Diamond Foundry staff, the open doors for pearl grade synthetics are simply getting off the ground. They see red rugs, big name crusades, and prominent engagements ahead. "I'm truly eager to investigate the future," one of their top cutters let me know. "What a capable explanation to say, you know, this jewel isn't simply everlastingly; it's for what's to come." What's more sentimental than a future?