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 | January 21, 2015 |
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| STATE OF THE UNION |
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NBC News: Obama Demands 'Better Politics' Of Congress To Lift Middle Class
President Barack Obama told Americans Tuesday night that the "shadow of crisis has passed" after years dominated by wars, recession and the threat of terror, saying that it's now time for the nation to "turn the page." In a message that underscored a turn to economic populism, Obama outlined a vision for "middle-class economics" and pledged to "restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American." The president was notably upbeat, highlighting positive economic news and occasionally ad-libbing beyond his prepared remarks. ... In his remarks to the newly GOP-dominated Congress, Obama offered a blunt veto threat of any Congressional proposals to undermine his major legislative achievements to date. "We can't put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we've got a system to fix," he said. "And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto." Read more..
NYT: In State Of The Union Speech, Obama Defiantly Sets An Ambitious Agenda
Confident and at times cocky, the president used the pageantry of the prime-time speech for a defense of an activist federal government. He vowed to continue a foreign policy that combines “military power with strong diplomacy,” and he called on Congress to lift the trade embargo on Cuba and pass legislation authorizing the fight against the Islamic State. He said approval of a resolution granting him that power — something he has long argued he does not need to carry out the five-month-old campaign — would send an important signal. “Tonight, I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission,” Mr. Obama said. “This effort will take time,” he said of the five-month battle to defeat the Islamic State, the Sunni militant group that is also known as ISIS or ISIL. “It will require focus. But we will succeed.” Read more..
The Hill: Obama Goes Off-Script To Jab The GOP
Reading from his script, the president began by talking about how he was done running for office and urged lawmakers to break free from Washington’s culture of campaigning. “I have no more campaigns to run,” Obama said, apparently provoking ironic applause from some Republicans in the room. “I know because I won both of them,” he said to laughs in an off-the-cuff remark aimed at the GOP side of the aisle. It was one of the few spontaneous moments in a speech that was carefully staged for maximum political impact. Read more..
Politico: Speech Stats
- Obama’s speech came in at just under an hour — 59 minutes and 56 seconds, according to unofficial White House record-keeper Mark Knoller. He also received 87 applause breaks, according to Knoller.
- Al Qaeda fails to get a mention in a State of the Union for the first time since 2001
- The president is the first in U.S. history to use the words “transgender” or “bisexual” in a State of the Union address
Read more..
NBC News: Hillary Clinton: Obama 'Pointed The Way To An Economy That Works For All'
Hillary Clinton, the likely frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, tweeted praise Tuesday night for the president's State of the Union address, saying he "pointed the way to an economy that works for all." In his remarks, Obama outlined a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to fund middle-class tax cuts, a tripling of the child care tax credit, paid sick leave and free community college for qualified students. Clinton's tweet came almost immediately after Obama's remarks concluded.Read more..
Boston Globe: Mitt Romney Responds To Obama's State Of The Union
Calling President Obama’s speech “disappointing”, Mitt Romney posted on Facebook his response to the State of the Union address, saying it was “a missed opportunity to lead":
True to form, the President in his State of the Union speech is more interested in politics than in leadership. More intent on winning elections than on winning progress, he ignores the fact that the country has elected a Congress that favors smaller government and lower taxes. Rather than bridging the gap between the parties, he makes "bridge to nowhere" proposals. Disappointing. A missed opportunity to lead. His tax proposal is a maze of new taxes and complexities. The best way to lower the tax burden on all American families is straightforward: lower rates and simplify the tax code. Read more..
USA Today: Jeb Bush: Obama Using Tax Code To Divide Americans
Bush criticized President Obama’s tax plan and fiscal policies, saying the economic recovery reflected in the State of the Union Address has not been good for all Americans. “We need to create economic opportunity for every American, especially middle class families and those trying to rise out of poverty,” Bush posted Tuesday night on his Facebook page. “It’s unfortunate President Obama wants to use the tax code to divide us — instead of proposing reforms to create economic opportunity for every American. We can do better.” The former Florida governor, who is considering a 2016 presidential bid, chastised Obama for ignoring the 2014 midterm election results that swept Republicans into the majority of both congressional chambers. Read more..
The Hill: Rand Paul Rebuts: All Is Not Well In America
“Good evening, I wish I had better news for you, but all is not well for America,” Paul opened in his YouTube rebuttal to the president. “America is adrift. Something is clearly wrong. America needs many things, but what America desperately needs is new leadership." In addition to YouTube, Paul lambasted the president on Twitter, fact-checked him on Facebook, and hit the cable news circuit to rebut Obama’s State of the Union address. Paul’s YouTube rebuttal was packed with ideas he pushed Congress to take up: he called for term limits, proposed a balanced budget amendment, an audit of the Pentagon, and a constitutional amendment that requires Congress to adhere to the laws it passes.Read more..
NBC News: Ernst Focuses on GOP Priorities in State of the Union Response
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said voters sent a "loud and clear" message in the midterm elections and pledged to forge ahead with Republican's legislative agenda in her GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union. "We heard the message you sent in November — loud and clear. And now we're getting to work to change the direction Washington has been taking our country," Ernst said. The 10-minute speech mentioned the president just a handful of times and was much kinder to the White House than many of her Republican colleagues. Instead of focusing on Obama, Ernst laid out a GOP agenda that will face stiff opposition in Congress, even with Republican control of both the House and Senate. Ernst talked about GOP priorities like approving the Keystone XL pipeline and repealing the Affordable Care Act, two partisan issues that would be vetoed by the president. "That's why the new Republican majority you elected started by reforming Congress to make it function again," she said. "And now, we're working hard to pass the kind of serious job-creation ideas you deserve." Read more..
Opinion-- Washington Post: Chris Cillizza: The Remarkable Confidence Of Barack Obama
How the speech will play depends almost entirely on how you viewed Obama going into it. For his allies and even many liberals who had grown sour on him, it was a triumphant speech in which both his own soaring confidence and his dismissal of his political rivals was fitting and appropriate. For his detractors, the speech was everything they loathe about him: cocky, combative and forever campaigning. Regardless of where you land on that confident-to-cocky spectrum, one thing was very clear tonight: Obama isn't planning to go quietly over his final two years in office. Not quietly at all.Read more..
Opinion-- Washington Post: Eugene Robinson: Two Very Different States Of The Union
We got two State of the Union speeches in one [Tuesday night]. One, laying out President Obama’s domestic policy initiatives, was detailed, specific, fact-filled, forward-looking, ambitious and replete with a certain swagger. The other, on foreign affairs, not so much. ... He was right to call for Congress to pass a resolution authorizing the use of force against the Islamic State, but said nothing specific about what that legislation should say. ... We heard very little about Iran, given the stakes. “The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” Obama said. He’s right about the domestic outlook, but when I look around the world I see an awful lot of dark clouds. Read more..
Opinion-- Washington Post: Dana Milbank: On Terrorism, The State Of The Union Is Strangely Quiet
Not since before the 2001 terrorist attacks has there been such a disconnect between the nation’s focus and the condition of the world. As threats multiply in the Middle East and Europe, President Obama delivered on Tuesday night an annual message to Congress that was determinedly domestic. And his inward-looking gaze is shared by lawmakers and the public. ... He went 32 minutes, more than halfway through his speech, before mentioning the “challenges beyond our shores.” ... If — God forbid — terrorists do here what they did in Paris and attempted in Brussels, the State of the Union in 2015 will be remembered as complacent. Read more..
Opinion-- WSJ: Editorial Board: The Gaslight Presidency
[O]bserve the irony: The President has suddenly discovered that middle-class incomes have plunged on his watch, and he’s demanding that Congress address this with more of the same policies that have done so much to reduce middle-class incomes. ... If there was a virtue in Mr. Obama’s speech, it’s that we can now retire the lectures on “responsible governing.” With the exception of trade and the war against Islamic State, the President Tuesday sought no common policy ground with Republicans. He offered a Nancy Pelosi agenda. Imagine if George W. Bush had proposed a $320 billion tax-rate cut in his 2007 State of the Union, following his rout in the 2006 midterm. He would have been hooted out of the chamber, followed by days of wondering if he’d wigged out. Read more..
Opinion-- NYT: Editorial Board: A President Outgunned In Congress Is Still Combative
[President] Obama knows his prospects of getting Congress to agree [with his economic proposals] are less than zero; Republicans dismissed his ideas before he even voiced them. Mr. Obama was speaking not just to the present but to the future, to the 2016 presidential elections and even beyond. By simply raising the plight of the middle class (and, looming behind it, the larger issue of economic inequality), he has firmly inserted issues of economic fairness into the political debate. Hillary Rodham Clinton or whomever the Democrats nominate cannot ignore them now. Even Republicans, disinclined to raise taxes on top-tier earners, may find attractive the idea of doing something for those in the middle. Read more..
Opinion-- National Review: Jonah Goldberg: The Obama Show
[T]he last 15 minutes [of the speech] amounted to Obama’s golden oldies. His real foe is cynicism. We can all work together. There are no red states or blue states. ... The difference is that the first time we heard this stuff it had at least superficial plausibility because the Obama presidency hadn’t happened yet. Five, six, ten years later, it’s all pretty sad. It’s sad because... it’s all so hypocritical. It’s one thing to claim as a candidate that you’re running against cynicism when you’re a rookie politician. It’s quite another to start the sixth year of your presidency cynically trolling the opposition with proposals you know cannot pass while decrying the political gamesmanship and partisanship of your opponents.Read more..
Opinion-- National Journal: Ron Fournier: Does Obama Believe What He Says Anymore?
President Obama ended his State of the Union address where he started his political ascent—offering to be a leader who produces can-do bipartisanship in a divided, dysfunctional capital. ... Polarization didn't begin with Obama. He can't end it without bucking his increasingly stubborn liberal base and overcoming even stiffer resistance from a hyper-conservative GOP base. But he is partially responsible for the problem he pledged anew to fight. ... He acknowledged there is good reason for cynicism. "But I still think the cynics are wrong," [he said.] Does he really? After six years of blaming the GOP and accusing pundits of overstating his ability to change Washington, Obama still has the audacity to hope? I doubt it. Read more..
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| MORE POLITICAL NEWS |
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AP: Cuba Lowers Expectations On Eve Of High-Level Talks With U.S.
A senior Cuban official said Tuesday that restoring diplomatic ties with the United States won't immediately lead to a full relationship between the Cold War foes after a half-century of enmity. The message appeared designed to lower expectations a day before the arrival of the highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades and just before President Barack Obama made his case in the State of the Union Address for seizing the opening with Cuba by ending the U.S. trade embargo of the island. Alan Gross, whose release from Cuba in a prisoner exchange last month cleared the way for a new relationship, sat next to Michelle Obama. "We are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date," Obama said. "When what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new." The Havana talks start Wednesday morning. But the high-ranking Cuban diplomat said Tuesday: "Cuba isn't normalizing relations with the United States. Cuba is re-establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S. The process of normalization is much longer and deeper." Reporters were briefed on condition the official not be quoted by name. Read more..
LA Times: Keystone Pipeline Firm Files For Eminent Domain Against Nebraska Landowners
TransCanada Corp., the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, filed eminent domain proceedings against an estimated 90 Nebraska landowners Tuesday to secure the right to build the controversial project across their property. “Today we initiated these actions in the state of Nebraska, but that does not mean we’re done working toward a voluntary agreement,” said Andrew Craig, TransCanada’s land manager for Keystone projects. “Our goal today is that, over the next six months, we are able to address any concerns they have about the project.... The current landowner will continue to own the land.” TransCanada’s legal filings are an effort to gain what is called an easement — the right to construct the pipeline on private land that others own. They are the latest step in a years-long fight over the project, which cannot go forward without President Obama’s approval. Read more..
Washington Post: Romney’s Speaking Fee At Public University Is $50,000, Far Less Than Clinton’s
Mitt Romney will charge Mississippi State University $50,000 to deliver a lecture on campus next week, most of which will go to charity — a dramatically lower fee than the $250,000 to $300,000 Hillary Rodham Clinton requires for her university lectures. Romney — the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who is weighing a third run for the White House — will speak as part of the university’s Global Lecture Series, a speaking series administered by the student government, a university official said. Read more..
Asbury Park Press: Chris Christie's Office Refuses To Release $800,000 In Credit Card Bills
Gov. Christie's staff has refused to release almost $800,000 in American Express card bills being sought by New Jersey Watchdog which has written that the governor's travel is costing taxpayers a lot of money. Last week, the investigative web site reported Christie's State Police bodyguard costs have grown by 1,800 percent since Christie became governor. State records showed those costs were $959,856 -- not including unreleased expenses -- for the last quarter of last year. ... In its denial, the Governor's Office cited security, "because the monthly statements indicate the names of the of the Executive Protection Unit members, the number of Executive Protection Unit members and the location of these members on a day-to-day basis." Read more..
The Hill: Finance Chairman: No Tool 'Off The Table’ In ObamaCare Fight
The head of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday said that he wouldn't take any tool "off the table" to chip away at ObamaCare under the new GOP-controlled Congress. Speaking from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) laid out a year’s worth of plans to undo the law “piece by piece,” acknowledging that Republicans stand no chance at repealing the healthcare reform legislation before the next election. On his agenda in 2015: bills to repeal the employer mandate and the medical device tax and reinstate the 40-hour workweek. “With President Obama in the White House, we’ll never get a full repeal enacted into law,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we should do nothing.” Read more..
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| TERRORISM LATEST |
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The Hill: Obama Calls For Vote In Congress On War With ISIS
President Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to grant him explicit authority to use military force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against ISIL,” Obama said during his State of the Union address, using the other common acronym for the terror group. Democrats and Republicans for months have told the administration to seek a new authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) that targets ISIS, rather than relying on ones passed in 2001 and 2002 and directed at al Qaeda. But Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has repeatedly said the onus is on the White House to send an authorization to lawmakers. Read more..
AP: 4 Men In Paris Court Are 1st To Face Terror Attacks Charges
French anti-terror prosecutors sought Tuesday to charge four men in connection with the attacks in Paris that left 20 people dead, which would be the first suspects charged in the country's bloodiest terrorist attacks in decades. The four men awaited an anti-terror judge's decision early Wednesday on whether to open preliminary investigations against them. The possible charges were expected just hours before the French government was to unveil new measures aimed at helping head off future attacks, giving police more power to tap phones, monitor Web sites and force Internet companies to block messages of hate posted online. Read more..
Reuters: Nigeria's Boko Haram Claims Baga Massacre And Threatens More Violence In New Video
A man purporting to be Islamist Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau on Tuesday claimed an attack on the northeastern town of Baga in which scores of civilians were killed when the insurgents seized a multinational military base. The insurgents, who invaded Baga at the start of the year, razed many buildings and homes in the week that followed, shooting civilians as they tried to flee, witnesses said. Some local officials put the death toll as high as 2,000, although the military said it was 150. The video was in the trademark Boko Haram style, with the bearded man claiming to be Shekau in combat fatigues talking in the northern Nigerian Hausa language surrounded by masked gunmen. The military says it killed the real Shekau. Read more..
ABC News: Japan Weighs Ransom In Islamic State Threat To Kill Hostages
The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages within 72 hours, demanding a $200 million ransom in a video posted online Tuesday that showed a knife-brandishing masked militant standing over the two kneeling captives. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was traveling in the Middle East, vowed to save the men. But with his military only operating in a self-defense capacity at home, Abe faces a hard choice: openly pay the extremists or ask an ally like the United States to attempt a risky rescue inside Syria. ... Japanese officials said they would analyze the video to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men. "Their lives are the top priority," the Japanese leader told journalists in Jerusalem as he wrapped up a six-day visit to the Middle East. "Extremism and Islam are completely different things." Read more..
Daily Mail: Muslim Employee Who Saved Lives At Kosher Supermarket Granted Citizenship By France
The Muslim kosher supermarket employee who saved several shoppers lives during the Paris attack has been granted French citizenship. Lassana Bathily, 24, was praised for his 'courage and heroism' by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve during a ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Mr Cazeneuve said Mali-born Bathily's 'act of humanity has become a symbol of an Islam of peace and tolerance.' Read more..
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| REBELS STORM YEMEN PRESIDENT'S PALACE & OTHER STORIES FOR THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING... |
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AP: Houthi Fighters Take Yemen's Presidential Palace, Shell President's Residence
Yemen's powerful Shiite Houthi rebels shelled the residence of the country's embattled president Tuesday and simultaneously swept into the presidential palace in the capital, Sanaa, as a top military commander warned that a full-fledged "coup" was underway. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was inside the residence as it came under "heavy shelling" for half an hour but he was unharmed and protected by guards, officials said. In New York, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting over the chaos in Sanaa. The shelling was a dramatic development that put the U.S.-backed Hadi into a precarious position and represented the starkest challenge to his authority since the Houthis swept into Sanaa from their northern stronghold and seized the capital in September. Read more..
ABC News: Doctor Gunned Down At Brigham And Women's Hospital Dies
A doctor who was shot by a lone gunman today at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has died, police said. The victim, Dr. Michael Davidson, 44, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, succumbed to his injuries late today. The gunman, who is also dead, was identified by police as Stephen Pasceri, 55, of Millbury, Massachusetts. He entered the building this morning asking by name for the doctor he would soon shoot, authorities said. Police received a 911 call at 11:07 a.m. that a doctor had been shot on the second floor, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said at a news conference at the hospital this afternoon. "He was targeted and that reason right now is unclear," Evans said. "There was something in the past that upset this guy."Read more..
ESPN: 11 Of 12 Patriots Footballs Under-Inflated
The New England Patriots had 11 of their 12 allotted game footballs under-inflated by 2 pounds of air (PSI) less than what's required by NFL regulations, according to league sources either involved or familiar with the investigation of Sunday's AFC championship game when the Patriots beat the Colts 45-7 to advance to their sixth Super Bowl. "We are not commenting at this time," said Greg Aiello, the NFL's senior vice president of communications. Troy Vincent, the league's senior executive vice president of football operations, told ProFootballTalk.com earlier Tuesday that the NFL expected to wrap up its investigation in "two or three days." Yet to be determined is what, if any, penalties may be imposed upon Patriots. One source described the league as "disappointed ... angry ... distraught," after spending considerable time on the findings earlier Tuesday. Read more..
New York Daily News: NYPD Union President Patrick Lynch Faces Leadership Challenge From Unhappy Cops
There might be a new sheriff in town at the police union. A group of upstarts plans to challenge lightning rod Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch and his leadership team. Brian Fusco, 47, a PBA trustee representing cops in south Brooklyn, said Tuesday that he’s running for president as part of the group calling itself “Strengthen the Shield.” The cops are on the PBA board but have been unhappy with Lynch, who’s been at the helm for 16 years. “He’s not listening to the membership,” Fusco, a 27-year NYPD veteran, said. “He has an arrogance about him that it’s his way or no way at all.” Some members of the group confronted Lynch during a union meeting a week ago, sources said. One cop bellowed over a microphone that officers really needed new patrol cars and bulletproof vests — not an apology from Mayor de Blasio. Read more..
AP: Jury Selection Starts In Colorado Shooting Trial
The first time James Holmes appeared in court, he wore chains and a jail jumpsuit and looked dazed, with his hair dyed a comic-book shade of orange. As the first day of jury selection ended Tuesday in the Colorado theater shooting case, it was a far different Holmes at the defense table: The jail uniform was replaced by khaki slacks, a light-colored dress shirt and a blue blazer. His hair, now a dark brown, was neatly trimmed. The former graduate student, whose attorneys acknowledge opened fire at a midnight "Batman" movie back in 2012, also had a curly, medium-length beard and wore oval-shaped reddish glasses. No restraints were visible, though the judge had ordered him to be tethered to the floor in a way the public couldn't see for the trial. Read more..
Reuters: Morgan Stanley To Pay Smaller Proportion Of Revenue In Bonuses
Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanley said it would pay a smaller portion of revenue in bonuses to investment bankers and traders this year even in a better revenue environment. The bank reported a drop in fourth-quarter adjusted earnings on Tuesday as it cleared the decks for a more disciplined approach to compensation by deferring fewer bonus payouts. In the past, the bank has deferred up to 80 percent of its bonuses at times of market uncertainty. The bank said in December it would pay more bonuses upfront because it was on a stronger financial footing and in a better position to make its practices more in line with those of rivals. Morgan Stanley said it would pay 39 percent or less of revenue from its institutional securities business to employees in 2015. Chief Executive James Gorman said in June the ratio would be 40 percent or less. Read more..
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